An order for the arrest of a disturbed boy, who escaped from a remand centre at the weekend and exhibited violent behaviour towards his grandmother and small children, was issued by the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said all the professionals agreed that what the 14-year-old boy needed was a place in a High Support Unit, such as the Eastern Health Board premises at Newtown House or Killinarden, but there was no place available for him.
In the circumstances, the judge said he had to direct that the boy be arrested at his grandmother's home and taken to a secure remand centre. He also directed that psychiatric treatment and counselling be provided and that the EHB investigate the possibility of finding a HSU place in another health board area.
The judge said he would prefer the boy to go voluntarily but the evidence indicated that, as the court was directing he be moved to a different remand centre, this would not happen and that was why he was directing his arrest.
The judge said he was concerned that the boy was "effectively at large" in his grandmother's home, given his history of violent and sadistic behaviour towards children and elderly people.
The boy's counsel, Mr Gerry Durcan SC, told the court he "torments" small children, extinguishing cigarette butts on their heads, and had threatened his grandmother with a knife.
Mr Durcan said the boy needed robust care and the type of boundaries and limits only available in a HSU.
He had been in a remand centre for the past four months and the court was told his behaviour improved somewhat. But the centre was not secure and the boy had absconded on a number of occasions, including last Sunday.
He had gone to his grandmother's home and contacted the centre from there but was refusing to return. Efforts were being made to have him return voluntarily, a course urged by his grandmother and aunt.
Mr Patrick MacEntee, for the Eastern Health Board, said there was no place available in a HSU for the child. His instructions were that a named remand centre was the next best place for him.
Mr Victor Thompson, a social worker team leader with the EHB, said he had been supervising the boy's case. The child had pressing needs. Mr Thompson said he agreed the best place for the boy was a HSU but, in the absence of this, the named remand centre was the next option.
Mr Thompson agreed the boy is a threat to his grandmother and to children and there was a distinct possibility he was a threat to himself. He agreed the remand centre where it was proposed to send the boy contained children on remand and children convicted on criminal charges, who might influence him. The boy was vulnerable and also liable to be a threat to others.
Here was a child for whom something could be done if he was given the right treatment and support, a witness for the centre from where the boy absconded told the court. Otherwise he would be open to being used and abused by anyone who would wish to do so. The witness said the boy has experienced profound loss in his life and has no trust in adults.
