Teenager caught possessing €25,000 worth of heroin further remanded

A teenager arrested last month for possessing about €25,000 worth of heroin, has been further remanded in custody pending directions from the DPP.

The boy (aged 17) had been arrested and charged at the Children’s Court with possessing heroin for sale or supply in Clondalkin, on Monday, November 3 last.

The west Dublin teenager also faces two further heroin dealing offences in the Clondalkin area, in Dublin, on two earlier dates.

He has been on remand in St Patrick’s Institution since November 4 last. The court had heard that the boy was not welcome at his mother’s house and his father did not have a permanent address.

Judge David Anderson said yesterday (MON) said that given the value of heroin involved “it could merit a section 15A”.

This refers to a charge under the Misuse of Drugs Act for possessing illegal drugs valued in excess of €13,000, which on conviction can carry a ten-year sentence.

He remanded the teenager further, until early January, for the DPP’s direction on whether the case is to be kept in the Children’s Court or instead be sent forward to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, which on conviction can impose lengthier sentences.

The court heard that it was believed the value of the drugs allegedly seized in the teenager’s latest arrest was about €25,000.

In the two previous incidents quantities of heroin worth €1,200 and €100, were recovered, it was alleged.

Bail, which teenager has to take up, with strict conditions and an independent surety of €1,000 has been set. It has also been stipulated that bail would also be subject to a satisfactory address being found for the teenager and a ban on him going to the Ronanstown and Clondalkin areas, in west Dublin.

Defence solicitor Michelle Finan said today that the teenager has been “unable to take up the bail”.

Gardaí had previously voiced concerns about the teenager’s being with young people in his area and his lack of an address.

“I do not think he is allowed into his mother’s home and his father is of no fixed abode,” one of the prosecuting gardaí had said. He had also added that there were concerns about “the influence he has on other young people in the area.”