Dublin People
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Place a Classifieds Ad
  • Place a Memorial Ad
  • Place a Planning Ad
Toggle Menu
  • News
    • Southside
    • Northside East
    • Northside West
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Health
    • Motoring
    • Travel
    • Arts & Culture
    • House & Home
  • Community
    • Crime & Courts
  • Business
    • Education
    • Jobs
  • Digital edition
    • Northside People East edition
    • Northside West edition
    • Southside People edition
  • Competitions
  • Video
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Place a Classifieds Ad
  • Place a Memorial Ad
  • Place a Planning Ad

Probation supervision for teenage boy who caused a girl to fall off DART platform

Gary Ibbotson 03 Oct 2022

By Isabel Hayes and Eimear Dodd

 

A teenage boy who pushed his bike at a teenage girl on a Dart station, causing her to fall off the platform and become briefly trapped beside a train, has been placed under probation supervision for 12 months.

The 17-year-old boy, who can’t be named because he is a juvenile, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to the girl in April 2021 at Howth Junction Dart station earlier this year.

Finalising the boy’s sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan said the boy had acted in a “reckless manner”.

However, Judge Nolan said the boy’s behaviour, while “reprehensible”, had not been intentional.

Judge Nolan said he did not consider a period of detention to be appropriate in this instance.

He imposed a 12-month period of probation on the defendant, subject to strict conditions.

Addressing the boy, Judge Nolan told him that it was his responsibility to follow the directions of the Probation Service, which would help him to become a “good member of society”.

At a previous hearing, Judge Nolan said that the incident had  been a “terrifying” experience for the girl, who was momentarily trapped between the train and the platform after being knocked over by the boy who had deliberately put his bike in her path.

The girl was hospitalised in the wake of the incident and suffered concussion.

She has no memory of the assault, but outlined a number of difficulties she has experienced as a result of the events that day in a victim impact.

Judge Nolan said the boy deliberately turned his bike towards the girl, causing her to lose balance and fall between the platform and the train.

“This defendant is responsible for her injuries,” he said.

Judge Nolan said he did not believe the boy intended for the girl to fall off the platform.

“It was prankish behaviour, irresponsible behaviour,” the judge said. “But it is highly unlikely he anticipated what occurred.”

Taking into account a number of mitigating factors, including the boy’s guilty plea, his lack of prior convictions and his remorse, the judge said he would deal with the boy by way of community sanctions.

A video of the incident at Howth Junction Dart station, which was leaked online, went on to be viewed 100 million times worldwide.

In her victim impact statement, the girl said she felt “let down” by Irish Rail.

The investigating garda told the court it was believed the CCTV footage was leaked from within the company.

Advertisement

“I’m not just an image on CCTV,” the teenage girl said in her statement, which was read out in court by Garda Kevin O’Boyle. “I’m a human being standing here before you today.”

In relation to the boy’s actions, the girl said she couldn’t believe a human-being could do such a thing to another person and think it was OK to walk away.

“None of these boys came forward,” she said.

Gda O’Boyle told Tessa White BL, prosecuting, that a group of around 10 boys, including the accused, were getting off the Dart on the day in question when the incident occurred.

The court was shown video footage from the body cam of a security guard, who was ushering the boys off the train.

The CCTV footage then showed the girl and a number of her friends running to get on the Dart, before three of the boys in the group accosted three of them.

One boy swung his leg up over his bike, hitting one girl towards her face. Another boy jumped out in front of a girl, causing her to nearly trip.

This accused then pushed his bike into the path of the victim, causing her to lose balance and roll off the platform. He was 16 years old at the time.

The court was also shown footage of the group of boys fleeing the station.

This boy was identified from the CCTV footage and arrested by gardaí a month later. When interviewed, he made full admissions.

He told gardaí he looked back to make sure the girl was OK before he left the scene.

He said he was “in shock” afterwards and that he never meant for her to fall off the platform.

Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, said the boy wished to apologise “unreservedly” to the girl for his actions on the day, which counsel described as “completely thoughtless”.

“He is embarrassed and ashamed at his connection to these events,” Mr O’Higgins said.

Mr O’Higgins submitted that the incident stemmed out of “16-year-olds messing” and was not an act of gratuitous violence.

He said the incident occurred during the Covid pandemic, when there was no school, no structure and no social outlets for teenagers.

Defence counsel said the train driver saw the girl falling off the platform and the train was never in danger of moving off.

Mr O’Higgins said the boy, who has no previous convictions, got “the fright of his life”. “This has been a huge eye-opener for him,” he said.

  • Crime & Courts
  • Dublin

Post navigation

>
<

Related News

Over 400 submissions made to date on citizen’s assembly on drug use

Gary Ibbotson • 06 Jun 23

TUH raises 25th anniversary flag

Padraig Conlon • 06 Jun 23

Free higher education courses available to Dublin people

Padraig Conlon • 06 Jun 23
  • FOLLOW
    DUBLIN PEOPLE
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Trending Now

  • New 500-seat theatre being considered for Dublin City Centre
  • Refurbished Garda Monument of Remembrance to commemorate Garda personnel who died in service
  • Horror at monster plans for Sallynoggin development
  • ‘Minister, where is the emergency funding that was promised?’


Dublin People Group
Dublin People Northside East
Dublin People Northside West
Dublin People Southside

The Dublin People Group is the largest local newspaper in Dublin, with three popular weekly titles serving the city: Northside People East, Northside People West & Southside People. Each of our titles are compact and available every Monday. Our publications are distributed throughout Dublin’s suburbs to homes, pick-up points and businesses.

DPG Publications Ltd
Unit 3 Robinhood Industrial Estate Dublin 22 Ireland.
Publisher of the following newspaper titles. The Northside People East, The Northside People West & The Southside People Newspapers

  • FOLLOW
    DUBLIN PEOPLE
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Phone: 01-8621611
Advertising: sales@dublinpeople.com
News: news@dublinpeople.com
Planning: planning@dublinpeople.com

  • Contact Us
  • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Privacy statement (EU)
  • Disclaimer
  • Return,Refund and Cancellation policy
  • Advertising and Pricing Policy
Copyright © 2021 Dublin People
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Go to mobile version