A schoolboy accused by a security guard of stealing from a Texaco filling station had been ostracised by his friends and had had to quit his school, a judge heard yesterday.
Mr Cormac ╙ Dulachβin, counsel for Kevin O'Moore, told Judge Gerard Keys in Dublin Circuit Civil Court that the boy had been "unlawfully detained, assaulted and slandered" by the security guard.
Mr ╙ Dulachβin said €6,475 had been lodged in court on behalf of Texaco Service Station, Howth Road, Raheny, Dublin, and Force 10 Ltd, Clontarf, Dublin, the security company involved. He asked the court to reject the lodgment and allow the action to go to trial.
Mr ╙ Dulachβin said Kevin, of Marville Road, Raheny, Dublin, claimed to have been walking towards the service station shop when a security guard lifted him by the collar and carried him into the shop.
The security guard asked the manager to call garda∅ and said to the boy: "You don't seem to go to school. You have ruined your family and I'll pop your lights out."
He had allegedly smacked the boy on the back of the head while holding him and had tried to kick his legs from under him.
When garda∅ arrived, the security guard told them Kevin had stolen two packets of biscuits from the shop with another boy on the previous Tuesday
A forecourt attendant who said he recognised the boy and who told the security man he felt he would not be involved in stealing anything was told to mind his own business.
Mr ╙ Dulachβin said when news of the incident had got out, the boy had been subjected to persistent ridicule at school to such an extent that his parents had to withdraw him and send him to another school.
"The boy was continuously teased about the incident, but the matter quickly ceased to be a matter of amusement and he suffered considerable distress after gaining a reputation of notoriety. He was ostracised by his friends," Mr ╙ Dulachβin said.
A defence had been entered in the case but it had merely put quantum in issue. The defendants denied the boy had suffered distress, anxiety or inconvenience or had been subjected to odium, ridicule, contempt or suspicion. Judge Keys rejected the lodgment as insufficient and ordered that the case go to trial.
In cases involving minors, legal practitioners, under Section 63 of the Public Liability Act, require the approval of the court before rejecting or accepting any settlement offer made by a defendant.