THE CHILDREN'S COURT:NEITHER OF the 15-year-old's parents had turned up in court for their son's case. "The position is that people who have legal responsibility for him should be in court," Judge Clare Leonard said sternly. "These are serious offences and none of his parents are here." The boy, dressed in a white sports jacket zipped up to his neck, folded his arms and sat back in his seat.
He was in court for a series of charges, all of which he was pleading not guilty to: joyriding, theft and public order offences.
The judge agreed a hearing date in October for the charges, but gardaí were objecting to the boy being released on bail.
Eight uniformed gardaí crowded into Court 55 of the Children's Court to give evidence that the boy had been repeatedly breaching his bail conditions over the previous weeks.
The judge read through the previous bail conditions he was given on July 7th.
There was a direction that he obey a 10pm to 9am curfew; stay away from a named street in the inner city; stay away from a nearby Chinese restaurant; and abstain from alcohol and drugs.
"There are several gardaí here to give evidence of breach of bail," a garda said.
"He accepts several of them," the boy's solicitor John Quinn said quickly, "while he says there are others which he doesn't recall."
The solicitor handed the judge a letter.
"It says that for three days next week he has been offered a position working in a film. It's an opportunity for him, judge ..."
"It's an opportunity he's putting at risk," the judge interrupted. "If he's not prepared to take the chances he's been given, why should the court?"
"There are a lot of serious offences here," she said, flicking through the charge sheets. "7th June, Section 112; 21st June, public order; 29th June, stealing cans of Budweiser. That's four charges in June alone!"
The judge turned to the boy.
"Give me one good reason why he should be given bail when he has failed to take these bail conditions seriously? If you didn't care enough not to behave yourself appropriately, why should anyone else care?"
The boy spoke.
"I've changed, judge," he said, in a muted voice. "Will you give me another chance?"
"You didn't care enough to stay out of trouble when you were given the chance," the judge answered.
"I'm trying to make progress," he said, running his finger up the zipper of his tracksuit. "I'm trying to keep out of trouble. I haven't been charged recently."
"Big deal," the judge said, sarcastically. "You've four charges in June. If you didn't care to behave yourself, why should we care?"
The judge asked for details of the breaches of bail.
The first garda took the stand. He said he saw the boy on a named street in the north inner city which he was directed to stay away from on July 16th.
"When I told him he was in breach of bail, he told me, 'I don't care'", the garda said.
The solicitor intervened. "He is clearly falling down in some areas, judge. The situation is that he doesn't recall saying those words."
Another garda gave evidence. "I saw him on the same part of the street on the 20th of July at 1am. When he saw me he just walked away," the garda said.
"I've spoken to my client," the solicitor said, "and he doesn't recall meeting the garda."
A third garda said he saw the boy with a group on July 14th, hanging around a Chinese restaurant he was directed to stay away from.
"One of them threw a carton at me ... I couldn't be sure it was him, judge. Three hours later he was outside the restaurant again. I informed him he was in breach of his conditions. He told me his conditions had changed."
The evidence continued. In all, eight gardaí gave evidence alleging he was repeatedly in breach of his bail conditions.
"So we have the 14th 15th, 16th, 9th, 18th, 20th July ... and on some occasions there were two incidents on the same day," the judge said, in an exasperated voice.
His solicitor acknowledged the dangerous situation the boy was in, but insisted the offer of work was a rare opportunity.
"Clearly, he shouldn't be out and court may feel he doesn't deserve another opportunity - but he has an opportunity with this film, something he almost certainly won't have again."
"He's playing games," the judge said dismissively. "There are no parents here, he's out late at night, who's controlling him? He's 15, wandering around the streets."
The judge remanded the boy in custody for a week and directed that both his parents be in court on the next occasion.
"Would the court consider allowing him out if he could attend the filming?" his solicitor asked.
"I'm sure the film people won't want him if he's doing this kind of messing," the judge answered.
The boy stared at the floor. As the case concluded, he got up angrily. His chair made a loud screeching noise as he pushed it backwards.
He scowled as he was led out the door by gardaí and walked down to the cells.
