A 10-year-old boy from the Finglas area faced the full might of the law in a Dublin court yesterday. Lined up to prosecute him were eight gardai and a solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The pale-faced boy in a green anorak appeared in the Children's Court on several charges of malicious damage to cars, theft, trespassing on the railway line at Ballybough, and failing to turn up in court several times on dates in April and May last.
One of the charges related to smashing the front windscreen of a car owned by the Japanese ambassador, Mr Takanori Kazuhara.
After the gardai filed into Courtroom No 25 and sat at the back, an amazed Judge Michael Connellan observed: "That's seven gardai."
The young defendant casually corrected him, saying: "There's eight," and the judge conceded his counting mistake.
When Mr Patrick Geraghty, prosecuting solicitor, said he was seeking an adjournment for a week, Judge Connellan complained about so many gardai "wasting their time when they could be doing something else."
He said: "I don't want to be bringing all these gardai in for nothing again. I don't want eight gardai tied up with one youngster. I don't want eight gardai coming into this court for a visit when they could be doing something else."
Judge Connellan said he expected a report for dealing with the case would be before him in a week, adding: "I will need to see some action next week in regard to this youngster who is at risk."
It was pointed out that the boy's parents were not in court. His mother was attending a funeral. They had been in court on previous occasions, however.
After Mr Geraghty said that the court might have some proposals before it next week for dealing with the case, the boy was remanded in custody to St Michael's Assessment and Remand Centre until February 3rd.
It is believed there were eight gardai in court because of the wide assortment of charges. They were there for almost half an hour.