By Sonya McLean
A teenager has been remanded on bail pending sentence after he was involved in a high-speed pursuit with gardaí during which officers drove at 180 km/hr in a failed attempt to close the gap on him.
The 19-year-old, who cannot be named because he was a juvenile when he was charged, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of endangerment, possession of stolen power tools, dangerous driving, having no insurance and no driving licence on July 30, 2023.
The pursuit took place around the Ballymun and Naul Road area of Dublin.
Karl Moran BL, prosecuting, told the court that the teenager was caught holding a mobile phone while driving by gardaí and was instructed to pull over.
He refused to do so and instead took off at speed and began weaving in and out of lanes of traffic to evade arrest.
The court heard that the officers were driving in excess of 150 km/hr in an attempt to keep up with the driver.
The speed limit on the section of the road they were driving on at the time was 100 km/hr.
The teenager took a slip road off the dual carriageway but was forced to break hard because of the stationary traffic at a set of lights.
The driver then drove over the central median and performed a U-turn into oncoming traffic.
The court heard the driver continued to drive at excessive speeds, undertaking traffic and driving on the hard shoulder.
Officers found they were not able to keep up with the teenager when they were driving the patrol car at 180 km/hr.
The driver ultimately crashed into a heavy goods vehicle having just taken exit two off the N2.
He got out of the car and jumped a fence into a forest area but gardaí managed to catch him and arrest him
Mr Moran said a number of power tools and a total of four different registration plates were found in the car.
The teenager was arrested and questioned by gardaí but nothing came out of those interviews.
It was accepted in cross-examination by Maurice Coffey SC, defending, that his client had no previous convictions prior to this event and has not come to garda attention since.
It was acknowledged that the married father of one has good support from his family and further accepted that he was not the mastermind behind these offences, referring to the stolen power tools and registration plates.
Mr Coffey submitted to the court that his client now has an 18-month-old child and has since married.
He submitted that it was an unusual case as his client had gone from zero to 140 km/hr and now appears to have gone back to zero – referring to the fact that the teenager had no convictions at the time of the offence and has not come to garda attention since.
Mr Coffey said he hopes this fact offers “some solace to the court” before he applied for an adjournment to allow for the preparation of a report from the Probation Service.
Judge Orla Crowe agreed that it would be “a good idea” to refer the teenager to the Probation Service for assessment before she remanded him on continuing bail and adjourned the case to June 5, next for sentence.