Animals got better attention than that given to the five children of a dysfunctional Dublin family where some of them were in care, a High Court judge said yesterday. Even by the age of nine, the children were not toilet-trained, the court heard.
Mr Justice Kelly said the only option available to him regarding one of those children, who marks his 15th birthday today, was to send him to St Patrick's Institution. The boy, who has intellectual and speech defects and has had little schooling, had spent the previous two nights in Kevin Street Garda station in the absence of anywhere else for him to go.
Because he was mainly concerned with the preservation of life, he was sending the boy to St Patrick's, the judge said. It normally caters for convicted young offenders from the age of 16 but several disturbed children have been sent there on foot of court orders because there of a lack of secure therapeutic places. Earlier, the judge heard the boy was one of five children in a family without any parenting skills. His mother suffered from drink and depression problems and was unable and unwilling to look after her son.
Last month, he was sent to an assessment centre but ran away within three days. Since March, he has been charged with 13 offences involving public order offences, criminal damage, larceny and road traffic offences. It was said he had engaged in car theft and was involved in a serious road accident earlier this year after which he was in a coma for three weeks.
Ms Nuala Egan, for the boy, had asked for orders to provide secure accommodation. Returning to his family was not an option and she doubted if he had the intellectual ability to withstand a period in St Patrick's.
Mr Justice Kelly repeated his criticism of the juvenile criminal justice system as "a shambles and chaotic". He directed the boy to be detained in St Patrick's for a month. He also ordered that a comprehensive physical, mental, psychological and social aspects report be prepared and given to the court.