A 17-year-old who allegedly drove a stolen BMW car at speed for 600m down the N40 in Cork city has been refused bail in order to “protect himself and others.”
Garda Niall McCarthy told an in camera hearing at Cork District Court on Thursday that gardaí went to the home of the young man on Wednesday evening to arrest him.
He said the teenager jumped over a garden fence and climbed on to a roof of another property in an attempt to avoid arrest.
The garda said the juvenile made no reply when the charges were put to him under caution. The teenager is charged with two counts of unauthorised taking of a vehicle, four counts of dangerous driving, two counts of driving without a licence and two counts of driving without insurance.
It is alleged that the youth stole a black Range Rover car from a house in Ballintemple, Cork, on August 7th. The garda said that he was captured on CCTV stealing the car from property.
It is further alleged that in the early hours of August 20th, he was seen driving a stolen BMW X5 in the Ringmahon Road area of Mahon in Cork city. A garda in his patrol car forced the vehicle to come to a stop. It is claimed that the youth then performed a U-turn and drove at a speed of up 110km/h.
The court heard that at junction 8 in Douglas he drove east down the carriageway of the N40 in the wrong direction for 600m before leaving at junction 7.
McCarthy said that he was strenuously objecting to bail being granted in the case. “He puts himself and other road users at risk,” he said.
The youth had consulted with his solicitor before the hearing. But his solicitor could not represent him because of the free legal aid dispute.
The accused opted to represent himself in court. He said that it was his understanding that detention of a juvenile was a “last resort”. He asked if any bail conditions would be acceptable to gardaí.
The garda said that no bail conditions set down by the court would suffice in the case.
The youth denied that he had committed the offences for which he had been charged.
“I want to make a submission: the guards are saying it was me. I am saying it was not. They are not 100 per cent sure it was me,” he said.
The teenager said that he was back doing sports training and wanted to “stay out of trouble.” He said that he was also waiting for a meeting with the probation service.
“I will do anything [to stay out on bail],” he said. “I have a supportive family. I don’t want to go to Oberstown.”
Insp Fergal Long said that the youth had a “complete disregard for members of the public”.
Judge Liz Healy told the teenager that he had represented himself very well in court. She said that gardaí had expressed concern about him committing “further serious offences” while on bail.
The youth then addressed her, saying that there “is a presumption in favour of bail”.
The judge said that the matter was very serious. She refused to grant bail in the case and remanded the youth in detention to Oberstown in order to protect not only the public but the young man himself.
The teenager will appear before court in Cork again on Friday by video-link.