A JUDGE has ordered the arrest of a youth who left a 14-year-old boy disfigured as a result of an attack in south Co Dublin in 2010. but who did not turn up in court yesterday for sentencing.
The Dublin Children’s Court has heard that the 17-year-old defendant had claimed that before the attack he had been called “Paki”, which the injured boy and witnesses have denied.
The court had heard that in September, when sentencing was adjourned, the victim will have to wait for seven years until doctors will be able to perform an operation to reset his nose.
The case was due to resume yesterday, however neither the youth nor any of his family members turned up.
Garda Rory O’Meara told Judge Bryan Smyth that he had informed the youth, as well as his father, that he was due back in court.
Judge Smyth issued a bench warrant for the youth to be arrested and brought before the court.
The teenager, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, had pleaded guilty in September to assault causing harm to the boy at Sandyford Road, Dundrum, in October 2010.
During that hearing, Garda O’Meara had said the 14-year-old victim received a punch to the face which “resulted in a broken nose and a chipped tooth”. The teen was arrested nearby wearing a jumper with “blood splattered on it”.
Garda O’Meara had said the youth claimed the then 14-year-old had “called him a Paki”, which was denied by the victim and two other witnesses.
The injured boy has since been told that his nose was “so badly broken it cannot be reset until he is fully grown when he is aged about 22”. The court has also sought a report on the teenager’s injuries.
Earlier, the youth’s defence had said he had thought the boy and his two friends were laughing at him and talking about him. “He confronted them and asked what they were saying; that is when he lashed out,” the lawyer had said.
The youth has no previous criminal convictions and was in school with hopes of going on to third-level, the court has been told.