BOY ATTACKED CARE WORKERS

A 14-year-old boy assaulted two care workers and forced two others to drive him off in a car over the course of three dates in June and July 2015.

Wicklow District Court heard on Tuesday, October 10, that the boy was in care in County Wicklow.

In the first incident, he was agitated and had walked out of the main house to a cottage. He started to kick the door of the cottage. He then pushed and punched a care worker, banging her head against the door. He took her phone and headbutted her, slammed her into the door of the cottage and kicked her in the head. Other staff arrived and restrained the boy. The court heard that he had pulled out strands of the care worker’s hair in the attack. Some days later, on returning from a golf trip with two care workers, the boy put a fork to the neck of the driver and told her to drive to Dublin.

She pretended she needed petrol and they pulled in at Applegreen on the N11. The court heard that the boy said that if there was ‘one wrong move’ the two women would ‘get it’. One of the care workers said she needed to go to the toilet but the boy made her leave her phone behind. Eventually he got distracted and the care workers managed to phone gardaí.

On a date in July 2015, the boy had been threatening and violent towards staff and had to be restrained. He was calm afterwards and then released. He then attacked a care worker and, when she stumbled in the driveway, he hit her twice with a golf club.

The court heard that the boy had been in voluntary care at the time. A psychiatric report has been compiled.

The court heard that the boy’s personal circumstances are not good. ‘He is crying out for some element of support,’ said his solicitor, who added that he would have preferred if a social worker was in court.

The boy’s mother was present but he is not living with her. She is at a B&B with her two other children. The teenager had been living with his grandfather but the relationship had broken down. Judge David Kennedy ordered a probation report and victim impact reports from the injured parties.