A homeless boy, who took part in opportunistic looting during the riots that erupted at the Love Ulster rally in Dublin in February, has been released by a court without a criminal conviction.
The 16-year-old boy was charged at the Dublin Children's Court with burglary of the Footlocker Shop on O'Connell Street, which was ransacked during the riots on February 25th. He admitted the charge.
He had spent the night before yesterday's court appearance sleeping on the streets.
The teenager was supported in court yesterday by a member of the Focus Ireland support agency for homeless people and a care worker.
Garda Timothy Casey said he arrested the boy, who was sleeping rough at Kildare Place, near Leinster House, on March 4th last.
After he was taken to Pearse Street Garda station, the teenager was shown CCTV footage from the scene and a photograph taken from a newspaper's coverage of the riots. He immediately identified himself in the photograph and on the video footage and admitted he had taken a hooded top from the shop. Garda Casey said the €70 top was not recovered.
He agreed with defence solicitor Catherine Ghent that the boy was very frank when he was interviewed. "He was not part of the core group involved in the riot," Garda Casey said, who also agreed that the teenager had come on the scene and acted in an "opportunistic way".
In mitigation, Ms Ghent said the boy, who has no criminal convictions, had one of the most difficult backgrounds she had come across.
"He was homeless from a very young age with his parents, who had alcohol problems. His mother died on the streets. He was then in and out of health board care for the last number of years."
Ms Ghent said High Court proceedings were under way to secure accommodation for him.
Judge Catherine Murphy found the facts of the case proven. However, she made no further order and released the youth without a criminal conviction.