A seriously disturbed teenage boy who suffers from violent sexual fantasies may be placed in a unit in Scotland because there is no suitable facility for him here, the High Court has been told. The 13-year-old mildly mentally handicapped boy has been in care since he was nine years old, was sexually abused as a child and has a history of violence and arson. His family background has been described as "very dysfunctional".
The boy has been placed in several institutions, none of which was regarded as suitable, and the court has been told there is no unit in this State which has facilities capable of meeting his special needs.
He is at present in a therapeutic centre from which he has absconded several times. He recently perpetrated a "violent ferocious attack" on a woman member of staff at that centre and is regarded as a high risk, particularly to adult women, but also to young girls and boys.
When the case was mentioned before Mr Justice Kelly yesterday, Mr Aongus O Brolchain SC, for the health board with responsibility for the boy, said it wished to place him in a particular institution in Scotland. The unit was prepared to take the boy, provided the admission was voluntary. He said the health board wished to go to Scotland and begin the process of putting together a care plan for the boy. He asked that the matter be put back so the boy's parents could be asked to give their consent to the Scottish proposal and to ascertain the boy's wishes.
Mr Justice Kelly, who previously described psychiatric reports on the boy as among the "most profoundly disturbing" he had read, adjourned the matter to Monday. The case was one of 19 children's cases dealt with by the judge yesterday. In another, Mr Justice Kelly was told that a very disturbed 14-year-old boy had absconded from a residential high support unit after climbing onto the roof and threatening staff with a hammer and chisel.
The judge issued a warrant for the arrest of the boy who has been placed in several institutions with little success. He was told a place was available in a State remand centre and he directed that, if arrested, the boy be detained at that centre pending further order of the court.
In another case, the judge heard that a 15-year-old girl, who was described by a psychiatrist as the "saddest child" he had met when the case first came before the High Court last Christmas, has been making "very good" progress at a secure unit and it was now proposed to move her to a new five-bed high support unit.