A 12-YEAR-OLD girl has appeared in court charged with driving a van dangerously through the streets of Limerick city centre before crashing into a Garda patrol car.
The 12-year-old, who cannot be named because of her age, appeared before the local Children’s Court yesterday on five charges of dangerous driving, one charge of causing criminal damage to a Garda car and driving with no licence or insurance on September 15th last.
Outlining the allegations against the girl, Insp Tom O’Brien told the court that the young driver was pursued by a Garda car through the city centre and was seen swerving from left to right on the road.
The court heard further allegations that the 12-year-old broke through two sets of red traffic lights while she was driving the red van through the city centre at 3.50am.
According to Insp O’Brien, gardaí were alerted after a call was received at the control room of Henry Street Garda station about a vehicle driving dangerously on the nearby Dock Road.
Gardaí pursued the vehicle up Mallow Street and down Parnell Street, Wickham Street and Mungret Street, but it continued through the city centre, ignoring red lights before ending up in the Garryowen area, the court heard.
Judge Tom O’Donnell was told that the girl drove in front of gardaí and collided with a patrol car before she was arrested in Garryowen while trying to run towards a house. She was granted free legal aid.
The girl, who turned 12 last April, also appeared on two further public order charges dating back to July 17th.
Her mother was in court for the hearing.
Judge O’Donnell remanded the 12-year-old on bail until September 30th and ordered that she observe a curfew from 8pm to 8am.
The judge said the case could be re-entered if the girl was found in breach of her curfew or any of her other bail conditions, which he asked not to be published in order to protect the defendant’s identity.
The Probation Services were also asked to investigate the girl’s circumstances and to prepare a report for her next court appearance.