A JUDGE at the Children’s Court has asked the HSE to attend the next hearing of a case concerning a 16-year-old boy charged with assaulting his sick mother and stealing her medication.
Judge Ann Ryan’s request came after she heard that the boy had been held in custody earlier when educational and psychological assessments were carried out. As a result, an action plan had been drafted with recommendations for social services to assist the teenager over his anger problems and for family therapy to be provided.
Defence solicitor Gareth Noble told Judge Ryan that a “comprehensive” 40-page assessment report had been given to the court. The report had made a number of suggestions, which Mr Noble has forwarded to the HSE, but he said it appeared that the matter had been “let slide”. It had recommended family therapy and also anger management therapy for the boy.
Garda Brendan Edery agreed that the teenager needed anger management counselling.
Mr Noble asked for the case to be adjourned to allow a social services’ report to be furnished to the court.
“Certainly the report was very extensive and indicated what was the appropriate way to deal with matters, and that has not really happened,” Judge Ryan said, adding that family therapy was “vital” in this case.
The boy was allowed home on continuing bail to appear again next month with the judge requesting a representative of the HSE to attend the hearing then.
The boy, who is from north Dublin, has been charged at the Children’s Court with theft of medication belonging to his mother, whose condition has not been stated, on a date in October. He was also charged with attacking her on the same date and again on January 4th last.
The boy, who had been attending a doctor at a north Dublin child and family clinic, also faces charges of attacking his father and his teenage sister at their home in January as well as breach of the peace.
Earlier, he had been held in custody at the National Remand and Assessment Centre, a juvenile detention facility in Finglas in Dublin, for four weeks for the assessments to be carried out. In January, his mother had told the court she was “finding it very difficult”. Social services have been working with the teenager for a number of years, the court has also heard.