Teen who caused €50k damage to Oberstown is sentenced to 4 years

A man from Strokestown, County Longford, has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing over €50,000 in damage to Oberstown Children Detention Campus during four separate incidents in 2016. The 18-year-old, who was 16 at the time, pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal damage at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The incidents involved stand-offs with staff spanning between three and four hours each. One incident included a fire being set in a multi-purpose room. Judge Patricia Ryan imposed the sentence with the final year suspended, and ordered two years' probation supervision upon release. The court acknowledged Ward's efforts at rehabilitation while in detention and his expressions of remorse, but noted the incidents were violent and aggressive, causing significant anxiety to staff and residents. Two further counts of assault and theft were taken into account.