A troubled 15-year-old girl is believed to be pregnant and to have left the country with an older man, the High Court heard yesterday. The authorities have been unable to find the girl since July. Mr Justice Kelly issued a warrant directing the Garda to search for, arrest and detain the girl, if located, in a secure remand centre pending her transfer to another unit where a place has been made available for her.
The girl comes from a very disturbed family background and the case of one of her brothers has been before the High Court on many occasions. The 13-yearold boy, who is mildly mentally handicapped and has been in care since he was nine, was eventually placed in a Scottish institution because there was no appropriate place available here.
Yesterday, Mr Thomas F. Creed SC, for the girl, said it was believed she was in imminent danger. The health board in whose care the girl was placed last July had tried to find her without success. It was believed she was with a 23-year-old man with whom she was having a relationship and it was feared she was pregnant. It was believed she might have left the jurisdiction.
Mr Justice Kelly noted there was no proviso for the girl's arrest because the Child Care Act gave no power to the health board to apply for such an order. The board had to come to the High Court to ask the court to make such an order under its inherent jurisdiction.
The judge said the order required now to protect the health and welfare of the girl was one directing the Garda to search for, arrest and detain her in the remand centre pending further order.
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