Teen car thief evaded Garda capture by swimming across river at 3am after ‘crime spree’

A school-going teenage car thief evaded Garda capture when swimming across a river in Gort in the middle of the night last February after engaging in a “crime spree” with a then 14-year-old co-accused.

At the Children’s Court at Killaloe District Court sitting in Ennis, the 16-year-old from Co Clare pleaded guilty to five charges including two car thefts last February 3rd and 4th in Tulla and Scarriff in east Clare.

Solicitor John Casey, for the accused, said his client, who was in court, should instead be returning to secondary school as he is a Leaving Cert cycle student.

Casey said his client “probably won’t be going for ‘Child of the Year’ but he has gone back to school”.

At the Children’s Court, the teenager entered the guilty pleas after Judge Adrian Harris decided to accept District Court jurisdiction in the case.

The teenager also pleaded guilty to two minor thefts and entering a building on Main Street, Scariff, as a trespasser on February 4th.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed that the case go forward to the Circuit Court on indictment, but this was overruled by the judge.

In the case, the teenager pleaded guilty to car theft at Main Street, Tulla, on February 3rd/4th last and another car theft at Church Street, Scarriff, on February 4th.

Det Garda David Laing said that after the car thefts were carried out, gardaí pulled up alongside the stolen car in the car park of Aldi, Gort, at about 3am on February 4th. The accused, who was a passenger, jumped from the passenger seat and ran from the car.

The detective told the court that gardaí chased the accused on foot, but the teenager made good his escape via a local river.

The teenager was arrested later that morning by gardaí.

Laing said the “crime spree” started when the two youths took a car key out of the pocket of a sleeping man at a property in Tulla.

The judge said a Probation Report is required and remanded the 16-year-old on continuing bail to appear before court in October for sentence.

The teenager’s co-accused in the case failed to turn up in court and the judge issued a bench warrant.

That teenager is charged with the unlawful taking of three cars and attempting to get into a fourth in Gort in south Galway and Scarriff in east Clare on February 4th.

The schoolboy is also charged with two burglaries and the criminal damage of one of the cars he is alleged to have unlawfully taken.