A Dublin teenager (17) has been remanded in custody after a court heard his €250-a-day heroin addiction was putting his life in danger and his mother feared for his safety.
The boy (17) was refused bail after the Dublin Children's Court was told that he was sick from his heroin abuse and that his worried family believed he needed to be held in custody for his own good.
Garda Damien O'Farrell told Judge Anne Watkin he arrested the teenager this morning on foot of a bench warrant after he failed to appear in court on a drug-related offence on May 23rd last.
Objecting to bail he said that the teenager, who comes from the south inner city, had already failed to appear in court once and he believed that if released he would do so again.
Garda O'Farrell also added that the boy had become sick through his heroin addiction and that he had been spending €250 a day on the drug.
The teenager's mother, who was present yesterday and visibly upset throughout the proceedings, agreed that her son should be held in custody. "It is for his own safety," she told Judge Watkin.
Judge Watkin remanded him to St Patrick's Institution until June 19th next and further ordered that the teenager should receive immediate medical attention there.