A violent and dangerous teenage boy who threatened to kill his social worker and held him hostage by holding a broken glass bottle to his neck was given two years detention yesterday.
However the 15-year-old boy could not be put in custody because there were no places in the State's juvenile detention facilities to hold him.
Judge Mary Collins imposed the order but had to let the boy free ordering him to come back to court next Monday to see if a spot has been found for him.
Judge Collins was told that neither the Trinity House Detention Centre nor Oberstown Boys' Centre had room for the out-of-control teenager. She said it was clear that the boy's behaviour had deteriorated considerably.
"I have serious worries about this person not being in a very secure environment," she said. "There is certainly a danger to others at this point in time."
On August 19th, a social worker from the Northern Area Health Board, who had been assigned to work with the teenager and his family, had been held in their home for 25 minutes until the gardaí freed him, the court heard.
The social worker had arrived at the house, in Skerries, Co Dublin, where the teenager tried to attack him with a bottle. He became more agitated, broke the bottle and held it to the social worker's neck while making threats to kill him if he tried to leave the house, the court heard.
However the social worker managed to make a phone call to one of his colleagues who then alerted the gardaí. Since the incident it has been deemed unsafe for social workers to visit the teenager's home, the court heard.
Judge Collins was also told that the boy had been involved in violent assaults on gardaí in the courthouse.