A 15-YEAR-OLD boy was told by a judge yesterday that the Children’s Court was “not a taxi service” and he would have to make his own way home.
Judge Aingeal Ní Chondúin said the three-hour, 15-mile trek home on foot might “take a bit of the smartness” from the north Dublin boy.
The teenager was before the Children’s Court after he was arrested for failing to turn up to an earlier case relating to a public order offence. A bench warrant was executed, a new hearing date was set and the Garda had no objection to bail.
His mother was out of the city and his grandmother did not drive, the judge was told.
Referring to the Garda, the teenager said: “They brought me here, they should bring me home.”
However, Judge Ní Chondúin held up her court papers saying: “You brought yourself here, what is this? A summons.”
She told the teenager he could be held in custody if he wanted, until someone came to collect him, which his solicitor pleaded with the court not to do.
A garda said it would take the boy, who did not have money on him to pay for public transport, about three hours to walk home.
Judge Ní Chondúin told the teenager the court was “not a taxi service” and remanded him on bail for two weeks.
She also said that one of his parents would have to attend the case and if they did not, a bench warrant would be issued for their arrest.