Teenager attacked healthcare worker

her out of the kitchen. She punched her in the face and head repeatedly.

The woman fell over. The teenager kicked her in the mouth and boxed her continuously in the neck and back.

The woman stumbled up to the staff office and locked herself in until gardai arrived. The incident was captured on CCTV. Some days prior to that, the girl started shouting at the eventual injured party to shout at her to get out. She said that she wasn’t coming on access with her to see her child. She threw a chair at her and boxed her in the left side of her face.

The court heard that the girl has been in care since she was 10 years old.

She is currently pregnant with her second child. She has been in a number of foster homes all over the country and has been in this place for a number of years.

‘ There is no doubt that she comes from a tragic and disadvantaged background,’ said her solicitor. ‘Life has been tough on her regarding where she finds herself at 17 years of age. You heard a reference to access to her child. There were also issues with peers she was mixing with. You heard reference to someone else being involved. However, she accepts responsibility for her own part in this.’

The court heard that the girl is still living at the house. Employees brought a report to court which the solicitor said is frank and open, but by and large positive.

She has expressed remorse and shown great strides in rehabilitating herself. One of the injured parties is no longer working there and the girl has not been in contact with her.

The court heard that her incidents of absconding from the home have ceased.

She is one of five children, most of whom ended up in foster care.

‘It’s very upsetting for the entire population of the home,’ said Judge David Kennedy, adding that health workers deserve to be protected from such incidents. ‘I’m surprised at this behaviour as she had been doing so well,’ he said, taking on board that there had been no further incident.

He adjourned the matter to September 20 for the preparation of a probation report.