Castlebar brothers given clean sheet for Christmas

Brothers given clean sheet for Christmas


TWO teenage brothers received the benefit of the Probation Act at Westport Children’s Court sitting at Castlebar District Court for assault charges.
The brothers each received the benefit of the Probation Act for two unrelated matters, meaning no conviction for either charge was recorded against them.
One brother with a Section 2 assault of a 14-year-old youth on Lower Charles Street, Castlebar, on October 12, 2012. The brother approached the youth and demanded he hand over his mobile phone and warned him that if he did not, it would be taken from him. He then took the youth’s phone and returned a moment later and hit the boy.
Defending solicitor Linda Lenehan told Judge Mary Devins that it was an ‘act of bravado’ and that her client accepted he should not have done it. The court heard that €100 was taken from the defendant’s pocket money over an extended period of time, a sum that was made available in the court to be given to the victim. Judge Devins was told that the brother has since moved in with foster parents in Roscommon and recent school reports showed ‘A grades’. Judge Devins commented that he was ‘very bright’ and that social work reports described him as ‘pleasant’ and a ‘sociable person’.
Asked why he hit the youth, the defendant replied, “He threatened me with his father.” Before applying the Probation Act, Judge Devins told the defendant that it was important he was being educated and compared it to ‘getting a ticket to New York’. The defendant agreed to write a letter of apology to the victim.
The second brother, who was described by social work reports as ‘polite, friendly’ and ‘engaging’, was before the court for the unprovoked attack of an off-duty garda and another male. Commenting on the attacks, Judge Devins said the brothers were ‘products of very violent family backgrounds’, adding that ‘children repeat what they see’. Ms Lenehen told the court that at the time the assaults took place the brothers were homeless, as their father had thrown them out of their home.
The second brother is currently in a residential facility finishing an addiction programme, and said he had already issued his victims with letters of apology. Judge Devins told the brothers that they were both intelligent with a good mother and that they should ‘put your past on a boat and sail it off’.
A case of the alleged assault of a security guard on November 20, 2012, involving both brothers was adjourned to February 13, 2014.