Teenager faces first juvenile court prosecution over Covid-19 restrictions

A 17-year-old boy, who was allegedly “travelling nationwide” and putting the public at risk, has become the first juvenile to face court charged with breaking the new Covid-19 movement restriction laws.

The boy, who cannot be named because he was a juvenile, was charged on Friday with three counts of breaching the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act, 2020.

Members of his family have been infected with the coronavirus, the Dublin Children’s Court was told.

The breaches of the new laws aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus are alleged to have occurred in Clondalkin and Blanchardstown in Dublin, on April 28th and three days earlier, and in Co Limerick on April 27th.

Garda Gary Farrell objected to bail and cited the teen’s 18 bench warrants for failing to turn up to court for other cases, from February 2017 until March this year.

He told Judge Brendan Toale the teenager’s family has been affected by the pandemic but the boy was driving around the country “posing a danger for everyone he is in contact with”.

He is travelling nationwide in MPVs (mechanically propelled vehicles), causing risk to the public not only by travelling but by spreading Covid-19, he said.

Defence solicitor Sandra Frayne said those charges were subsumed with other matters and he had the presumption of innocence.

He also faces 26 other new charges of theft, cannabis possession, dangerous driving, and motoring offences such as having no licence or insurance. These offences allegedly happened between March 12th and April 27th this year.

His solicitor pleaded for bail to be granted to the teenager whose mother was present for the hearing.

She asked the judge to note that all his bench warrants had been sorted out and there were none “live” at present. He has found a previous one-week stint in custody difficult because he was the only foreign national there at that time.

He was also aware of the consequences of the pandemic which had affected his own family, she submitted. The teenager’s record of coming to court far outweighed the amount of non-appearances by the boy. He had come on three out of every four of his court dates, she estimated.

Judge Toale granted bail but ordered the teenager to remain within five kilometres from his home and to comply with Covid-19 guidelines for the duration of the health emergency.

He cannot drive a motor vehicle and must obey a 10pm to 6am curfew at his home.

The case resumes in two weeks when the court will decide whether his bail will be revoked for breaking bail terms – by repeatedly breaching curfew and driving a car while banned – in connection with other theft charges.