Teen "giving two fingers" to court is warned by Judge that he is on his "last chance"

The Judge warned the teenager he was on his last chance. 

A 14-year-old Dublin boy, who has been “giving two fingers” to court and gardaí, is on his last chance to avoid a stint in a detention centre.

The young boy is before the Dublin Children’s Court on theft charges and had been granted bail earlier with a number of conditions.

He had agreed to abide by a 9pm-6am curfew, not to get into any car except with two named family members, and to stay away from parts of west Dublin and a number of youths.

He was arrested again and brought to appear before Judge John Lindsay for breaking the bail terms and faced an application to remand him in custody.

The teen faces charges of stealing confectionery from a shop in west Dublin and €40 of diesel in a drive-off theft, from September 2018 until June this year.

During a contested bail hearing, his case manager Garda Tomas Finnerty said the teen had broken the bail conditions 21 times. Thirteen were breaches of curfew of which five took place after midnight.

In one of them, the teenager had been seen travelling in a car with older people, after 4am.

The others in the car were described by the garda as a “bad influence” on the boy, who was accompanied to court by a family member. 

Garda Finnerty added: “It is pure concern that he is going down a path, I’d be afraid where he is going, to be honest.” 

Judge Lindsay said the boy was giving two fingers to the court and gardaí.

Defence note lack of maturity and death of close family member in bail plea 

Pleading for bail, defence solicitor Ruth Walsh asked the court to note the teen had been included in a bail supervision scheme. He was also due to commence a new educational course.

His behaviour had also been affected by the death of a close family member. 

Pleading for another chance for him, she asked the court to note the boy’s lack of maturity and that he had never been detained before. 

She also pointed out that some of the curfew breaches happened shortly after 9pm.

He had also disassociated from most of his negative peer group but there were concerns he would get into trouble if he hangs around with older bad influences, the solicitor said.

Judge Lindsay told the teenager that bail terms were not “mumbo jumbo”.

“These are the rules, full stop, do you understand?” he said.

The boy replied, “yes” and was told by the judge that he was getting a last chance to avoid being held in Oberstown detention centre until the proceedings have concluded.

The teenager told the court he understood as his case was adjourned.