KILDARE: Juvenile sent forward for trial over alleged car chase incident
CASE UPDATE
A teenage boy accused of being involved in a car chase has had his case sent forward for trial.
The boy, who is currently remanded at a juvenile detention facility, appeared before Judge Desmond Zaidan at Naas District Court on Thursday, January 25 last.
He was led in handcuffs, but these were later taken off him.
It was alleged on a previous court date that the boy was the driver of a stolen car and had been involved in a car chase, which crossed over into County Kildare, alongside two other juvenile males.
As part of a Section 75 application, the defending barrister for the teenager asked Judge Zaidan to reconsider his initial decision to refuse jurisdiction over the case.
He asked the judge to consider the boy's age and level of maturity at the time of the alleged offence, and also noted that his client had previously availed of special needs services when he was in primary school.
"However, when he transitioned to secondary school, he wasn't getting specialist one-on-one attention, and then during the pandemic, doing school work from home didn't agree with him either," the barrister added.
He also noted that both Tusla and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (also known as CAMHS) are both liasing with his client.
After consideration, Judge Zaidan said that while he has sympathy for the boy, and noted his personal circumstances, his initial decision would remain.
A book of evidence was the served on the boy by gardaí and his case was sent forward for trial to the present sittings of Naas Circuit Criminal Court.
When a social worker from the detention centre tried to put the handcuffs back on the boy, he became visibly upset and resisted, which prompted a court garda to step in.
Eventually, the boy agreed to have the handcuffs placed on him again.
When he was being led out, Judge Zaidan told the defendant look after himself, and also urged him to keep up with his educational work while he was remanded in detention.