The Children's Court/Carl O'Brien: No one knew what the crazed 16-year-old with eyes was going to do next. He was standing outside a house in west Dublin, armed with a bundle of knives, surrounded by 15 gardaí, while the Garda helicopter droned noisily overhead.
"I'm going to f****** kill you!" he yelled at one of the gardaí. "I'll kill you!"
Clutching a 13-inch carving knife, he cut his forearm until it bled. Then he charged through the cordon of gardaí, still waving the knife and shouting threats at the top of his voice.
Six weeks later, before court 55 of the Children's Court, the boy sat quietly with his head bowed, inspecting the silver handcuffs around his wrists.
Four expressionless gardaí towered over him, most of them with their arms folded.
Across the room, Garda Donal Daly of Ronanstown station spoke almost nervously as he read through his official account of that day.
"It was an incident of an extremely serious nature in which I and my colleagues were in fear of our own safety and the safety of onlookers," the young garda said. "The accused was out of control."
Judge Mary Collins, a softly spoken and compassionate judge, looked at the garda and nodded silently.
The chase had started earlier in the day when gardaí spotted the 16-year-old drinking a bottle of Smirnoff Ice with a group of other young people in Liffey Park estate.
He was breaching two bail conditions, which stipulated that he stay away from the area and obey an 8 p.m. curfew.
The boy scampered away and, in the next few minutes, ran into a back garden, threatened gardaí with a garden rake, broke into the house using a shovel and stole a set of 12 knives.
He threw some of the knifes at gardaí and attempted to hijack a passing car, before he was eventually caught and arrested.
One officer was hit on the arm with a knife; the other only escaped injury because he had a police shield to protect himself.
The young garda added that on other occasions the boy had made a number of serious threats to him.
"While being conveyed to St Patrick's to serve a 20-month sentence, the accused said, 'I have to get out sometime and when I do, I'll kill you'," the garda said, this time more calmly.
A silence fell on the courtroom as Judge Collins leafed through the charge sheets and details of previous convictions.
There were 56 in all. They included burglary, road-traffic offences and assault. The list went on and on.
The boy's solicitor, Mr John Quinn, pleading for mitigation, said his client had a troubled background.
He had not lived with his parents since the age of three and was with his aunt now.
He had left school before finishing his Junior Cert. He also had a problem with cocaine.
There was more silence until Judge Collins finished making her notes and dispassionately said she would impose a 17-month sentence in detention.
She did not attempt to issue a warning to the defendant or offer some homespun advice, the way most judges do. There seemed little point.
The 16-year-old, dressed in a navy Nike T-shirt, did not seem to take in what she was saying.
He continued to inspect his handcuffs, occasionally looking blankly around the courtroom crowded with blue Garda uniforms.
There was neither shame nor sadness in his empty eyes.