A 15-year-old Dublin boy described as having “huge emotional problems” held a knife to his social worker’s throat and threatened to kill her, a court has heard.
The now 17-year-old youth had been charged at Dublin Children’s Court with producing a knife as a weapon at his home and threatening to kill the social worker there, in June 2010.
Garda Ruairí O’Connor told Judge Ann Ryan that the incident happened when the social worker and a colleague called to the boy’s home to speak to him. The teenager was in bed at the time but “took exception to being woken” and allegedly threatened to kill her.
The court heard it would be claimed the woman “retreated to the balcony area” where the boy “placed a knife to her throat and again threatened to kill her”.
Solicitor Maura Kiely, defending, made submissions under the Children’s Act asking for the case to be dealt with in the juvenile court , not the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.
The social worker continued to work with him until earlier this year when there was another alleged incident. The boy has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
Judge Ryan accepted jurisdiction, meaning that the teenager has avoided a Circuit Court trial and his case will be prosecuted in the juvenile court.
He was remanded on continuing bail to December.