The High Court has upheld the detention of a 16-year-old sentenced to 30 days after pleading guilty at Tallaght District Court to possessing a screwdriver as an article with a blade or sharp point.
Brian Mooney, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty on September 14, 2009 to an offence under section 9(1) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990. Other charges before the District Court were adjourned.
The District Judge initially sought a probation officer's report before deciding how to deal with him. An appointment could not proceed because Mooney was said to have flu, while he and his mother did not attend a second appointment. The resulting report told the court that the probation officer was unable to provide further information.
After another adjournment, Mooney and his mother attended court on November 10. The judge offered either a further week's remand in custody to allow the position to be clarified or immediate sentencing. After taking instructions, Mooney elected to proceed to sentence. He received 30 days' detention.
His lawyers challenged that detention under Article 40.4.2 of the Constitution. They argued that the Children Act 2001 required a substantive probation report before detention could be imposed and that detention of a child should only be used as a last resort.
Mr Justice Michael Peart rejected those arguments. He held that the District Judge had complied with the statutory obligation by adjourning the case and requesting the report. The legislation did not require repeated adjournments where a child had failed to cooperate sufficiently for a full report to be completed.
The High Court also found no evidence that the District Judge had disregarded the statutory requirement to use detention only as a last resort. Whether the 30-day sentence was harsh or excessive was a separate question for an appeal to the Circuit Court, not a basis for declaring the detention unlawful.
The Article 40 application was therefore refused.