Dad tells of trauma after youth gets probation for vehicle rap

Judge Valerie Corcoran ordered that he be monitored by the probation services for nine months. The teen cannot be named as he is a minor.

- BY PAUL HEALY and MICHAEL O'TOOLE

The young dad was in court for the hearing - and told us afterwards he was angry with the outcome.

“I am not happy,” he said.

VICTIM

“Given his 20 previous convictions, I felt it was lenient.”

And he told the judge in the hearing at the court in Smithfield, central Dublin, just how the theft of the SUV affected his family.

He said in a victim impact statement that the car was stolen in the early hours of Monday, February 10 this year, from his home in west Dublin as he prepared to take his son to Crumlin Children's Hospital in the city.

He said: “[His son] was scheduled for a blood test at 8am on Monday morning in advance of a bone marrow biopsy at 8am on Tuesday.

“At that time, having our car was essential. We had multiple hospital appointments and our son's medical situation was extremely serious.