Suspended sentence for youth (with 23 previous convictions) after attacking tourist

[jman0war]

Good ol Justice system doing it's best.

A youth has been given a six-month suspended sentence for his part in an unprovoked gang attack on a 16-year-old Finnish tourist in Dublin city centre.

The 16-year-old had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the young tourist, who was repeatedly punched and kicked during the attack at James's Walk, Dublin 1, on July 18, 2010.

Dublin Children's Court heard that the youth had no memory of the attack, which was captured on a CCTV camera, because he had been under the influence of drink and drugs.

Yeah, drink and drugs: the most convenient excuse and no reprimand from the Judge for such an admission.

Judge Bryan Smyth said that if the teenager, who has 23 criminal convictions, were an adult, he would have been detained. He also said a pre-sentence report showed that he had missed appointments with his probation officer and several days at a training course he was ordered to attend.

So that means no penalty for missing appointments? Wow, the power of the Justice system.
Really nice to know they are protecting the general public.

A probation officer also had concerns over the teen's awareness of how his offending effected others.

Defence counsel Kate O'Toole said that her client had been abusing drugs and alcohol at the time and no longer comes to regular garda attention. She also said he wanted to be let do a victim empathy course run by the Probation and Welfare Service.

Judge Smyth noted from a garda report that in recent weeks the youth, who was accompanied to his hearing by an uncle, has been “keeping his head down”.

Read more: Youth sentenced for attack on Finnish teen in Dublin | BreakingNews.ie

FFS

[Skyrocket]

Shameful sentence for such a brutal attack. He should have got at least a year in jail.

[Nermal]

Shameful sentence for such a brutal attack. He should have got at least a year in jail.

Or better yet, life imprisonment on, let's say, the 3rd of his 23 previous convictions, thus avoiding the creation of 21 more victims (and doubtless plenty to follow).

It really defies belief that we allow such a history to build up. How many chances do you need? How much do we have to waste on these people?

[J.V.STALIN]

Shoot him. Bullets are cheap.

[johnfás]

1) we don't know the nature of previous convictions from this report 2) the Oireachtas has places serious restrictions on the ability of judges to jail minors under the Children's Act.

[MacBeth]

The Blackrock rugger lads who kicked a young fella to death ten years back got off scot fee. No one was calling for them to be shot.

[Nermal]

1) we don't know the nature of previous convictions from this report

Precisely what type of conviction do you think it's remotely acceptable to accumulate 23 of?

The Blackrock rugger lads who kicked a young fella to death a few years back got off scot fee. No one was calling for them to be shot.

Did they have 23 previous convictions?

[Dylan2010]

need a cheap solution, how about going back to the old ball and chain. Each offence increase the size of the weight by 10KG. after 4 or 5 offenses he wont be hitting anyone. lol

[jman0war]

How come the kid can admit that he was using drugs and alcohol as part of his defense, yet there is no penalty for such?

Does this mean that one is allowed to do drugs, as long as it's associated with another crime like assault?

[Hugo7]

So "Keep your head down" for a couple of weeks and walk away scott-free to the park for a few spliffs and a bottle of vodka with your mates. I wonder how the victim feels on hearing this?