Judge calls for security review after youth brings knife to court

A judge has called for security to be tightened at the Dublin Children's Court after hearing a youth felt it necessary to come to his case armed with a concealed knife.

Judge Clare Leonard called on the Garda Inspectorate to conduct a review of security at the courthouse, which is located in Smithfield, in Dublin's north inner city, after a youth (now aged 18) pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing a knife there on a date last June.

Garda Redmond O'Leary told Judge Leonard that the teenager had been arrested at the courthouse and was later searched. “I found a kitchen knife with a four-inch blade,” he said, adding that the youth claimed he had it “for his own protection.”

Defence solicitor Sarah Molloy told the court that her client, who is in custody serving a sentence for other matters, had been the victim of a knife-armed attack at the courthouse previously.

The judge was told that the accused had been “jumped” by another person who had been armed with a knife.

She said the teen had been in fear at the time and had already been advised by gardaí that “a threat had been made against his life.”

Ms Molloy said her client had later come to court with a knife to defend himself. Judge Leonard asked what he intended to do with it, at which the teen said he would have “shown it.”

Judge Leonard noted that a person had been charged over the previous incident and said that the Garda Inspectorate needed to conduct a review of security at the court. “We do not even have CCTV, and the whole of Dublin is covered by CCTV.”

She added that security cameras should be installed at the courthouse and in particular outside its front doors.

She said she did not condone the teen's actions and that carrying a knife can lead to more serious offences being carried out. But she added that “if a child cannot arrive in court safely without being at risk, the security aspect needs to be looked at again.”

She applied the Probation Act leaving the teenager without a conviction saying “I am not sure what protection it would have given you and you are putting yourself in circumstances where you would be using it.”