Juvenile denied bail in Kildare court, placed in detention
THREE ALLEGED INCIDENTS
A teenage boy from County Kildare was denied bail at Naas District Court and remanded into a detention centre on Thursday, October 5 last.
Judge Desmond Zaidan made the decision to refuse bail for the boy during the in-camera (in private) court session, which took the form of a bail application.
The boy was accompanied by his mother during the court session.
According to a garda who took to the stand explained to the judge that the boy stood accused of being involved in three separate criminal incidents.
For the first incident, he faced an allegation of slashing three out of four tyres on a vehicle in Kildare.
It was also alleged that he stole a registration plate and caused 'extensive scratch marks' to the front of the vehicle.
For the second incident, the boy allegedly slashed the tyre of another vehicle, and a blade allegedly belonging to the boy was recovered at the scene by gardaí.
For the third incident, it was heard that he went into the staff room of a store and stole €5 from a wallet.
He was later allegedly identified via CCTV for all the offences.
It was alleged that he committed all of the offences while he was on bail for other offences, and that the alleged victim of one of the offences has early onset dementia.
Gardaí objected to bail, based on the strength of the evidence and a belief that he was likely to reoffend if granted bail.
The boy’s solicitor, David Powderly, as well as his mother, objected to him being questioned for a number of hours by gardaí, and also for having him sleep in a locked cell without his mother present.
Mr Powderly alleged that guidelines were not followed, but the garda who took to the stand denied that any protocol was broken.
He also maintained that his mother was with him at all times during questioned, and denied to take a rest period.
However, when the mother took to the stand, she said that she only said declined the rest period because she was allegedly assured by gardaí at the time that the questioning would only last a few more minutes.
She also claimed that she was told by the sergeant on duty at the time that she could not go into the cell to sleep beside her son, but she was allowed to sit outside the cell.
After consideration, Judge Zaidan sided with the State, saying that it’s concerns were 'well-founded and sustainable,' and refused bail for the juvenile.
The case will resume later this month.
INTERRUPTION
At one point while delivering his verdict, Judge Zaidan was distracted by a member of the court services who approached the bench.
He remarked: "The court service is at it again... no interruptions, please!
"I’ve been saying it for 18 years!"
Speaking to the court clerk, he said: "Would you kindly tell them not to approach the bench when court is in session?"