A teenager who carried out an arson attack at his own home after his mother refused to help him pay a drug debt when he was 14 will be sentenced in May.
His mother said she had her troubled son charged after she met “closed doors” when she looked for help for his mental health problems and the teen became a danger to himself and others.
The teenager, now aged 15, appeared again at the Dublin Children’s Court on Friday.
He had pleaded guilty in January to stealing his mother’s car, damaging it and driving without a licence or insurance on a date last July.
He also admitted arson of a shed and the gable end of his home in Tallaght, criminal damage to a bedroom and threatening to damage to his father’s home on a later date in 2018.
Judge Brendan Toale was furnished with a report from the Probation Service on Friday which recommended a six-month period of continued supervision.
Defence counsel Alison Fynes said this would allow the boy continue engaging with the service.
However, there was no objection to the case being adjourned until May with conditions the boy would continue to engage with the the Probation Service and an education plan, and not come to Garda attention.
Counsel said the latest welfare report on the boy was positive and the court would be asked to finalise the case in a non-custodial way.
An updated pre-sentence report is to be provided at the next hearing, Judge Toale ordered.
The boy, who was accompanied to court by his mother, spoke once during the hearing, saying “yeah” when told he needed to follow the directions of his probation officer.
He was remanded on continuing bail.
Earlier, Detective Garda David Jennings said the arson happened after the boy asked his mother to lend him €20 because he owed money for drugs.
She refused and he started to say he would be attacked if she did not pay.
Again, she refused and it turned into an argument with the boy saying he would be attacked and their house “smashed up”.
It continued into the evening and at about 10pm he started annoying her for money for cigarettes.
He began packing his bag and she noticed him taking items that did not belong to him. Det Garda Jennings said after this breach of trust, the woman told her son to go.
There was another argument in which the youth threatened to petrol bomb his father’s house and that he would do the same thing to his own home.
He left at about 4am but 10 minutes later he called his mother and told her to look outside.
Her shed was engulfed in flames and the fire spread to the side of the house.
The fire brigade put it out and €5,000 worth of damage was caused.
The court heard that on an earlier date he stole his mother’s car and it was later found with €2,000 worth of damages.
The court was told the boy was arrested following the arson.
He became “very, very emotional in relation to what he put his mother through”.
The teen was crying, said Det Garda Jennings, adding that it was his opinion the boy was genuinely remorseful.
The court also heard the teenager made straight forward admissions and was later held in custody in Oberstown for a stint, on other minor charges, “only to keep him safe”.
The detective agreed with the defence the teen’s mother had been “banging her head off a brick wall in trying to get help for him”.
The court had heard that the mother reported the incidents because of the difficulties in getting support services for her son’s mental health problems.
Det Garda Jennings agreed the teenager, who is now getting home tuition, has not continued to come to attention.
An Assessment Consultation Therapy Service (ACTS) report on the youth has already been furnished to the court.
ACTS is Child & Family Agency service that provides multidisciplinary consultation, assessment and focused interventions to young people who have high risk behaviours associated with complex clinical needs.
The court heard the boy had been traumatised by bereavements.
His mother has told the court the teenager had been attending attending drug abuse counselling which has to be completed before he can attend a mental health facility.
Another welfare report stated the teenager had moderate language difficulties, the court was told.
He had also been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
His mother told the court her son had a psychiatric assessment when he was in custody in Oberstown last year, “but nothing came from that”.
She also spoke about incidents in which her son had engaged in self harm.
Counsel asked the judge to note the teenager may have deeper issues as yet undiagnosed.
At the boy’s previous hearing, his mother said, “I felt at the time, I had no choice but to press charges to get help.”
“He was a danger to himself and others. I tried to access help previously but there was closed doors. Sorry I had to use the justice system but I had no choice.”