A teenage repeat offender was detained for eight months in St Patrick's Institution yesterday on his 80th conviction.
Judge Leo Malone heard at the Dublin Children's Court yesterday that the 17-year-old boy had pleaded guilty to 25 offences for breaches of public order, for being drunk and disorderly, thefts and "joyriding".
The court heard evidence from numerous gardaí and the boy's mother, who said she did not want anything to do with him anymore.
The alcoholic teenager, from the north inner city, who has been arrested and charged over 100 times over the last three years, had continued to break the law after he had been released on earlier convictions.
His first conviction was on March 19th, 2000, when he was aged just 14 and he had a history of persistently skipping court - some 34 times.
In one public order incident outside the Dublin Children's Courthouse in Smithfield, he threw a bottle at a garda, narrowly missing his head.
He also took part in a city-centre mobile phone snatch from a young woman on O'Connell Street, on June 13th last, Garda Seán McClafferty told Judge Malone. The boy had grabbed the phone, worth €510 from the woman's hand and hid in a nearby block of flats. The phone has never been recovered as the boy hid it before he was arrested. He had also been remanded in custody two weeks ago, when he turned up in court for his case review drunk and facing allegations that he had been engaged in breaches of the peace outside the courthouse.
He further admitted being drunk and disorderly, theft, unlawful carriage in a stolen car, interfering with vehicles, fighting on the streets and possession of a wheel brace for use as a weapon.
The boy's mother told the court: "He has no home to come to. I've had enough of him. He was let out on bail and told not to drink but he has been drinking, taking tablets - the lot."