Mother pleads with judge to detain son who is mixing with ‘unsavoury characters’

A woman has pleaded with a judge to detain her teenage son, saying she is “very worried for his life”. The boy (16) was appearing before Dublin District Children’s Court in relation to charges associated with drug possession. Through the boy’s solicitor, the woman asked to address Judge Brendan Toale. “I am [the boy’s] mother,” she said on Friday. “He has been on the missing list with gardaí for the last 15 days until he came here today. “I am very worried for his life. He is working with very unsavoury people. There is a court order [in another court] that he is to reside in my house every night until he successfully completes rehab.”READ MOREThe woman said she had no phone number for her son and no means of contacting him.Becoming upset, she said: “I am asking you judge, I am depending on you, to safeguard my child. The Garda say his life is at extreme risk.”She asked the judge to do something to detain him, direct that he stay out of certain areas and to impose a curfew on him “because his activities are causing his life to be in danger”. The judge said he understood the woman’s worries but he did not have the power to impose such sanctions without an application from gardaí. “[The boy] is on bail. He attended court and there is no application for any bail conditions to be applied. [Gardaí] are not in a position to apply for bail conditions as he turned up in court,” Toale said. [ Judge orders potentially life-saving medication for girl against mother’s wishesOpens in new window ]“This court is specifically forbidden to remand somebody in detention on the basis of welfare. That is a function of a different part of the State – namely Tusla.” The woman asked if the judge could direct the boy to give her his phone number. He said he could not. Listing the case for hearing next month, the judge said he would invite Tusla to be represented in the court then. Tusla was not legally represented in the case of a boy (16) before the court on multiple charges associated with travelling in stolen cars at very high speeds, despite being invited by the judge the previous week.The boy, who is detained in Oberstown Children Detention Campus, is “crying out for special care” – the most secure form of care, Toale said. He expressed doubt the previous week about Tusla’s assertions it would seek a special care place for the boy.[ Judge says success of children in special care illustrates loss of those who cannot access itOpens in new window ]Barrister Orla Doolin, for the boy, said it was “very disappointing” that Tusla was not represented given the relevance of its intentions to the decisions being made about the boy in the court.Doolin made submissions seeking the adolescent’s release from Oberstown, where he has been detained following breaches of bail conditions, and a community sanction, to enable Tusla progress a special care application. Under legislation, a child detained in Oberstown cannot be considered for special care, even where all professionals believe the child needs to enter the system. Toale noted Tusla reports handed in to his court since February, which stated that the boy was being considered for special care, with no application made. “This is the Mexican standoff we have every single time,” he said, remanding the boy in Oberstown for five months.