A High Court judge has ordered the temporary detention in St Patrick’s Institution of a troubled teenage boy with an acute behavioural disorder pending his transfer to a secure care unit in Scotland.
The 16-year-old has been in care since the age of three and his disorder manifests itself in random violent acts.
Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said yesterday his decision that the boy should be held in St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin was the “least worst option” now available.
The judge said it was a sad and tragic case, “the dismal and depressing nature of which cannot be adequately conveyed by a few weak words of mine”.
The boy’s parents, both drug addicts, were separated, Judge Hogan noted. His grandparents provided a home for him until his behaviour made this impossible.