Two teenage brothers followed a youth and carried out a knife attack while another youth recorded it near Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin, it has been alleged.
The pair, aged 14 and 16, appeared at the Dublin Children’s Court on Friday, charged with violent disorder on February 8th at Main Street, Dundrum, in the city’s southside.
The incident, which left a youth hospitalised, followed an alleged insult about one of the defendants’ deceased relatives.
Garda Michael Doheny and Garda Adam Kearney objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the case and witness interference. However, the boys were released under strict terms because the possibility of witness interference was not established.
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The Garda witnesses told Judge Brendan Toale that the pair were identifiable in high-quality CCTV footage showing them and a third male running from Dundrum Town Centre to Main Street.
They closely followed the injured party into a shop and forced him into a corner, where he was punched on the face before being struck with a knife to his shoulder and back.
Kearney alleged the younger brother was “caught red-handed” using a white-handled knife to stab the youth and that the assailants fled the scene and left the area on a Luas tram. The other person with them was alleged to have been recording during the attack.
The two boys were arrested on Thursday morning when gardaí said they recovered important evidence, the suspected weapon, as well as the clothing the boys were wearing and a shoe belonging to the injured youth, which was said to have been lost during the struggle.
An ambulance treated him at the scene and he was then taken to hospital, where he received seven or eight stitches to his back and two more on his shoulder.
Doheny said the older boy claimed the complainant had commented on a family member who had died. It was taken as an insult or slight and “escalated” the row.
The boys, both foreign nationals who have lived in Ireland for several years, were accompanied by their mother and assisted by an interpreter at the hearing. The pair have yet to enter a plea.
Cross-examined by defence solicitor Conor Crean, the Garda witnesses agreed the pair had no prior convictions and had never been involved in court proceedings until now.
The judge said the evidence of the offence was not enough to indicate the likelihood of witness interference. He granted bail, compelling them to notify gardaí of any address change, to obey a curfew, remaining away from Dundrum and the complainant’s locality.
Legal aid was granted to the pair, who will appear again in April for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
