Fall of kids in adult wards

The trio pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which the Australian court accepted and withdrew its original murder charges.

The three men also each pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery in company, two counts of torture, and one count of stealing.

Kratzmann also pleaded guilty to a separate offence of entering a premises with intent to commit an offence.

Ms Justice Bowskill said the three men’s behaviour was “despicable” and callous towards Mr English and his friend.

THE number of minors placed in adult psychiatric wards has fallen, new figures show.

However, Labour leader Ivana Bacik welcomed the report but said there should not be any minors in adult wards.

Figures released by the HSE show that in 2022, there were 20 child admissions to adult centres. This is down from 29 the previous year.

Ms Bacik said more work is needed to get that number “down to zero”.

THIS is the moment confronted an alleged war criminal — who has been living in an Irish town for at least a decade.

We tracked down Dragan Rakanovic at his home in Portlaoise, Co Laois — days after he was arrested and brought to court by the Garda Extradition Unit.

We have established that a 56-yearold ethnic Serb named Dragan Rakanovic is wanted by officials in Croatia for war crimes allegedly committed in former Yugoslavia — part of which is now in modern-day Croatia — over 30 years ago.

He is alleged to have maltreated two police officers who were held captive by Serbian nationalists in the village of Borovo Selo, in the now Croatia, in May 1991.

That incident is believed by many to have sparked the bloody Croatian war of independence, a conflict that cost more than 20,000 lives, in which Croats fought to break free from Serbdominated Yugoslavia.

Garda sources have told us that Mr Rakanovic was arrested after his name was entered in the Garda computer system PULSE over a minor matter — and a warning flashed up that a man with that name was wanted for alleged war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

Sources say the warning on the Garda PULSE system was part of the Schengen scheme, on which European countries share details of people wanted in their states for crimes.

Arrest

Officers became aware a man with his name was wanted in Croatia and detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at the force HQ in Dublin’s Phoenix Park travelled to Portlaoise last Friday and arrested him.

Mr Rakanovic was taken into custody on foot of an extradition warrant from Croatia and appeared in the High Court in Dublin earlier this week.

His case was adjourned and he was released on bail.