Lack of space at the State’s main youth detention centre resulted in two Dublin teenagers accused of being armed with a machine gun during a burglary being freed at the weekend, it has emerged.
One of the boys – released on Saturday night – failed to attend his next court hearing on Monday and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The two 17-year-olds and two men had been refused bail on Saturday after a judge heard a 60-year-old man was “savagely” beaten in front of his terrified family when armed intruders forced entry into their home in Shankill, Co Dublin, on June 11th.
All four were charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful possession of a Skorpion machine pistol.
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Following their District Court appearance on Saturday, it transpired that the Oberstown Detention Campus in Dublin had no room to take the two youths despite the judge’s decision.
Gardaí held them until their lawyers launched habeas corpus, a legal mechanism to challenge unlawful detention, in the High Court on Saturday night. That led to a temporary “workaround” order releasing the pair on bail and subject to “house arrest” until their appearance on Monday at the Children’s Court.
The boys, from north Dublin, cannot be named because they are minors.
On Monday, Judge Brendan Toale ordered gardaí to arrest the one who did not turn up.
Noting there were still no remand beds available in the detention centre, he had to grant the co-accused teenager bail pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The judge highlighted how the lack of room in the detention facility had become a constant problem for the courts.
“This whole situation arises where the lack of place in Oberstown is an ongoing difficulty; it has been going on certainly for the last six months at a high level when, more often than not, there are no beds available, and where there was a refusal of bail,” he said before sending the boy home.
The teenager, who has yet to enter a plea, was accompanied to court by relatives and ordered to obey a 10pm – 6am curfew at his home, stay contactable by phone, remain out of the Shankill area, not contact witnesses, surrender his passport within 48 hours and not apply for alternative travel documents.
He will appear again in four weeks.
Co-defendants Sean Doran (26), of Earl Street South and Gregory Dunne (60), from Oliver Bond Flats, both in Dublin 8, were remanded in prison custody on Saturday and are due back in court later this week.
Dublin District Court heard on Saturday that the Garda ballistics section stated the gun was “capable of full automatic firing”, and the burglary and gun charges can carry possible life sentences.
Mr Doran has an additional charge of assault causing harm to the 60-year-old homeowner, who suffered lacerations from blows to his face and head.
In bail objections, evidence stated that the homeowner, his wife, aged 63, and their 35-year-old son were in “grave fear” they would not remain in the house and had since moved to a hotel.
