A youth with 62 previous convictions who hijacked a car so he could get to court has been jailed for 18 months.
Darren Farrell (19), of Montpelier Gardens, Dublin, found the car he had been using had been clamped so he threatened a 12-year-old boy who had been left sitting in another car.
Farrell pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to hijacking the car at Main Street, Blanchardstown, on December 21st, 2010. Garda Martina Drew told prosecuting counsel Pieter Le Vert that Catherine Buckley had left her son in the car as she went to carry out some errands. Farrell told the boy to get out or he would “batter” him. Shortly afterwards they were spotted running from the car into the nearby court house, which was “less than a mile away”, Garda Drew said.