A 12-YEAR-OLD mildly mentally handicapped boy from a disturbed background who suffers violent sex fantasies may have to be sent to an English institution because there is no proper place in this State for him, the High Court heard yesterday.
The court was told past sexual abuse seemed to be a possibility in light of the child's mental functioning. He has been in care since the age of nine and has a history of violence.
In light of psychiatric reports on the boy, described by Mr Justice Kelly as among the most profoundly disturbing he had ever read, the judge returned the child to a secure remand centre.
The matter was adjourned to next month to allow further psychiatric examination and neurological assessment to establish whether the child has an organic brain disorder.
The Southern Health Board has also undertaken to establish whether he may be placed in an institution in England.
Deciding the case, the judge noted it was before him last January when a proposal was made by the health board to have the boy sent to a remand unit in the country which was not secure. The proposal was made without psychiatric reports.
At the January hearing, Mr Justice Kelly said he would not send the child to the proposed centre until he had reports which he directed should be prepared within six weeks. He returned the boy to the secure centre.
Yesterday the judge said he was glad he had directed the preparation of the reports, furnished to him by the board. The reports showed the child's whole psychosexual development was "askew".
The child had used graphic language demonstrating a form of sexual aggression and a link between violence and sex which was totally out of place for a 12-year-old and "an extraordinary development", as the child also appeared at the level of mild mental handicap.
The judge said the boy suffered violent sex fantasies directed at young women and at staff of the institution where he is held. The boy would have to stay there for the foreseeable future.
He said the child required further medical assessment to establish if there was an organic brain disorder and assessment of his extreme psycho-sexual development.
A remand centre was not an appropriate place for this child. He was glad the health board was going to have the child assessed by an institution in England.
He would review the matter on April 16th next. He stressed to all sides that the child needed urgent attention.
Earlier, Mr Gerard Durcan SC, for the child, made no objection to the remand and the new health board proposals for the boy. Counsel also welcomed the intervention of a second experienced child psychiatrist.
Counsel said the case was "a stark reminder" of the dangers of making proposals for children without the benefit of a full psychiatric assessment.
Mr Aongus O Brolchain SC, for the board, said until it received the reports it thought the remand centre in the country appropriate for him.
