Teen with psychiatric condition 'dragged victim to ground and kicked her'

A 16-year-old girl, who dragged another girl to the ground by her hair and then rained kicks on her head, stomach and ribs during a mugging, has been remanded on conditional bail pending sentence.

The Dublin Children’s Court heard that the teen, who had to be arrested with the added assistance of garda back-up, has the psychiatric condition Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), meaning she can become hostile easily, and will not take normally acceptable orders.

The defendant pleaded guilty at the Children’s Court to robbery of a 16-year-old girl and her boyfriend, in Fairview, in the early hours of November 22 last year.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath was told that the accused, then aged 15, had been with a gang at the time but had acted alone.

Garda Leanne Shovelin, Clontarf station, said the victim’s handbag “was taken by force”.

The victim’s hair was grabbed and she was “dragged to the ground and kicked several times to the head, stomach and ribs”.

The accused then made away with a handbag belonging to the victim who “was left in fear”.

The defendant, who remained silent and impassive as the evidence was given, was later arrested and charged after gardaí received a description of her appearance.

Garda Shovelin said the victim was collected by her mother and taken to hospital and physically “she was basically okay”. However, she was “left shocked”.

The teenage defendant was un-cooperative on her arrest, the judge was told.

“She resisted; we had to call for back-up and she refused to give her details,” said garda Shovelin who added that the teen calmed down and became compliant when her father arrived at the station.

Garda Shovelin agreed with the defence that the girl had been in the company of older people at the time. However, she explained that they were not involved in the robbery.

“She was the one that approached the two injured parties and carried out the attack. She was with five others who were also arrested but it was the accused that did the robbery and committed the crime,” she said.

Judge MacGrath also heard that the accused had no prior convictions had been drunk on the night of the incident.

In mitigation the defence said the teenager was on medication for Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder and getting treatment for “Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)”.

The defence lawyer, furnished the court with a social worker’s report on the accused said: “In relation to ODD its symptoms mentioned in the report are refusing to obey reasonable orders and can be confrontational.”

Judge MacGrath heard that the teen defendant, who was accompanied to court by her father and an adult sibling, was attending alcohol abuse counselling, had completed the Junior Certificate and was taking part in an educational course.

The defence asked the court to take into consideration that the teen’s father felt there has since been an improvement in his daughter’s behaviour, and that she no longer stayed out late or associated with the same peer group.

Judge MacGrath noted the contents of the social service report furnished to her and said: “The worrying aspect of this is she was 15 at the time of the offence and she was out at 4.30 in the morning.”

Judge MacGrath adjourned sentencing until a date in October in order to have a probation report on the girl obtained. She also imposed bail conditions on the girl compelling her to reside at her father’s address and to obey a curfew there between 10 pm and 8am.

The accused girl spoke twice during the case, each time saying “yeah” in a low voice when asked if she understood she was lucky not to have inflicted serious injuries and after she was warned she must comply with the terms of her bail.