The Children's CourtA few short weeks ago he didn't seem to care about the joyriding offences he had stacked up. But yesterday, after a stint in St Patrick's Institution, the youngster was suddenly behaving like a reformed character.
"I didn't realise how bad my problem was until I went up there," the 17-year-old said in contrite tones, his head bowed and avoiding eye contact with the judge. "I was getting the sweats and everything."
The boy, from a deprived area of Cork's northside, had been arrested for a series of offences relating to cars, drugs and alcohol.
One of the incidents involved driving at high speed at night without any headlights and narrowly missing a Garda patrol car.
At the time he refused treatment for his alcohol and drug dependency. The probation officer's report said the youngster was going nowhere. All he seemed interested in was waiting for his sentence.
But, after two weeks' detention in St Patrick's, the accused was now pleading to stay at home with his mother, obey a 6 p.m. curfew and co-operate fully with the probation services.
Judge Con O'Leary, a seasoned observer of cases at the Children's Court in Cork, wondered whether something else had sparked such a dramatic turnaround.
"How long were you confined to your cell?" the judge asked.
"16 hours," the boy responded immediately, not needing to calculate it in his head.
"Were you allowed to mix with the Dublin people there?" he asked.
The boy shook his head from side to side.
"No, it's not safe," the judge said, and paused. "I don't know which part made you feel so bad. Perhaps it was the fear and disorientation rather than the drying out?" The boy's solicitor added that there had been a substantial change in his client in a very short space of time.
"His mother and sister have spoken to him. His mother is very concerned. There is a big change in his attitude. It's amazing what two weeks can do," he said.
The judge wondered aloud about whether sending the boy home was the right thing to do in the circumstances.
"If he goes back to his home, won't his friends be knocking at the door?" the judge asked. "I won't go out to them," the boy replied with lightning speed.
By this stage his mother was anxious to voice her opinion on the matter. "I can keep him in the house," she said urgently. "He can stay in my daughter's as well. They wouldn't dare go near there."
The judge agreed. He allowed the boy to stay at home for the next fortnight on strict bail conditions which included a 6.30 p.m. curfew.
A short time later the threat of St Patrick's was used again when a boy from another poor area of Cork's northside was accused by gardaí of breaching his bail conditions.
The boy had been told to observe a 6.30 p.m. curfew while on remand from custody, yet the garda said he had not been at home during a house call at 8.40 p.m. The judge warned the boy that any further breach would mean "it's off to St Pat's". The boy nodded his head vigorously, looking relieved to be given another chance.
The judge in yesterday's column was Judge Catherine Murphy, not Judge Angela Ní Chondúin as reported.
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