A vulnerable teenage girl who escaped from a health board placement before Christmas and who was said to be effectively a prisoner of two violent men has been found after a major Garda search. The 17-year-old girl was last night in an undisclosed location outside Dublin. When she appeared in the High Court earlier, she appeared frightened, confused and distressed.
The girl was believed to have been living since her escape with the men, a father and son, in the father's "squalid" Dublin flat. She was said to have been in a relationship with the son but unable to exercise free will.
She was alleged to have been beaten and to be unable to leave their company without permission. It was also alleged that a member of her family had been slashed in the face with a broken bottle when he tried to talk to the girl.
A 21-year-old pregnant woman, the father's partner, and their young child were also said to be living in the flat. That woman was alleged to have had her arm broken by the father and to be locked in the flat with a dog when he left the premises.
The court heard the father had five children, three of whom had been placed in care. A social worker told the court it was too dangerous to enter the flat unless accompanied by gardai. She said the father had served several prison sentences, including one for grievous assault on a garda. A garda also told the court yesterday that the father had told him he would burn the garda's house down.
Acting on foot of a High Court warrant directing them to search for the girl and enter any premises where they suspected she might be, gardai located the girl in another flat, also described as "squalid", in innercity Dublin on Tuesday night.
She was found in the company of the son and a relative of the son.
She spent the night in a Garda station and was moved last night to another location.
Mr Justice Kelly yesterday issued injunctions restraining the two named men or anyone else from interfering with the girl or harbouring her.
The girl has been in care since she was 10. Her seven siblings were also placed in care. The girl has had several placements and did well at a high-support unit, where she was placed from late 1997 to January 2000. She did well in exams and hoped to pursue a particular career and a number of courses.
However, she became involved with the son, who was a resident of a care home, and later in 2000 began to abscond for weekends. She ran away in August 2000 and made no contact with social workers for some time.
She was suspected of living with her boyfriend and his father in their Dublin flat. On three occasions last year the South Western Area Health Board arranged to have her removed from the flat by gardai, but each time she returned.
When she was removed on the last occasion, December 22nd, and taken far outside Dublin, the son had travelled to that place and taken her back to Dublin, using money he got on false pretences from the health board.
The girl told the court yesterday she did not want to move outside Dublin. She denied she was unable to exercise free will. She agreed she would like to improve herself and that her present living conditions were not what she was used to.
Mr Justice Kelly said the case had elements of "sadness and badness" he had never before experienced.
While in care, the girl had made great strides but the young woman before him was sad, introverted, fearful, unkempt and incapable of making eye contact with anyone.
The people with whom she was associating had had nothing but a negative influence on her. He had heard frightening evidence of threats to social workers, gardai and of violence in the past.
The judge said he had heard harrowing evidence that these men had turned her into a sort of slave. They had made it clear through threats that they were determined she should remain under their control, and he was equally determined she should not.
