Courts

Teenager stabbed uncle for buying heroin for his father

Court told defendant grew up in house where drugs used and had few rules or boundaries

A teenager stabbed his uncle because he did not want him to buy heroin for his father, the Central Criminal Court has heard. File photograph: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times.

Eoin Reynolds
Mon Mar 30 2020 - 18:26

A teenager stabbed his uncle because he did not want him to buy heroin for his father, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The 18-year-old Dubliner, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, threatened his uncle earlier in the day and told gardaí he later “lost it” and stabbed him in the chest.

He pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious harm to his uncle at a house in Tallaght on August 27th, 2018. The injured man has fully recovered, forgives his nephew and chose not to make a victim impact statement at his nephew’s sentence hearing.

Garda Lisa Prendergast told Paul O’Carroll SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, that she responded to a report of a stabbing at a house in Tallaght at 1.35am on August 27th, 2018. She said the defendant, who was highly agitated, immediately admitted to carrying out the attack.

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Garda Prendergast said the teenager told her colleague he was trying to “get my father off the gear, but my uncle keeps bringing it into the house, I just can’t take it any more”.

The injured man had blood on his shirt and showed the garda a wound under his shoulder. Garda Prendergast said the accused also used his uncle’s crutch to strike him, leaving him with cuts and bruises to his head.

Garda Prendergast said she believed the defendant’s remorse over the attack was genuine and agreed with defence counsel Fiona Murphy SC that he had a “dysfunctional upbringing”.

Ms Murphy said the teenager grew up in a house where people were doing heroin and there were few rules or boundaries. He had become “master of his own life and things slowly spiralled out of control,” counsel said.

Counsel said that on the day of the stabbing the boy was “wrestling with his own demons” and had told his father that his “head was melted” and he wanted to see a doctor.

Ms Murphy asked the judge to consider her client’s age, remorse and that the injured party made a full recovery when sentencing him. Mr Justice Alex Owens adjourned the matter to April 27th.

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