Judge: Roma raising kids to steal
A judge today accused the Roma community of raising their children to steal saying they were responsible for “our shops being robbed blind".
At the Dublin Children’s Court, Judge Aingeal Ní Chonduin was dealing with the case of a now 16-year-old Roma mother-of-one, who admitted theft of several pairs of shoes and handling stolen clothes.
Defence solicitor Gareth Noble said the girl had been brought to Ireland at the age of 13 by her partner, who is five years older, and his family.
She gave birth to a child at the age of 15 and her own parents still reside in Romania but have some contact with her. The girl was still in a relationship with the father of her child and lived with him and his mother, the court was told.
The Health Service Executive had conducted welfare assessments into the girl’s situation but did not deem that any action was necessary.
He also said that the girl was anxious to be allowed to continue care for her child.
A garda told the court that earlier in the case another judge had raised concerns over the man having sexual relations with the teen who is underage.
The garda also said that the DPP had directed that no prosecution should be brought against the man.
“That seems to be the culture, the family owns her that is the way the families function, unfortunately, to go about to steal,” she said regarding the girl’s circumstances.
Judge Ní Chonduin also said it seemed that the children were “raised” to steal. “It is a different culture, it does not go with our ways and our shops are being robbed blind, I feel sorry for these children.”
The girl had admitted theft of €320 worth of children’s shoes at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, in Dublin, on June 11 last, possessing stolen underwear, taken from a shop in Dublin city centre, on a date last July and failing to attend her court case on another date.
A bench warrant had also been issued earlier which resulted in her being remanded last week.
Judge Ní Chonduin imposed a seven-day sentence which she backdated to when the girl, who resides in west Dublin, went into custody. A €200 fine was also imposed.
Another judge had already voiced concerns over the girl’s welfare. On July 12 last, at an earlier stage in the case, Judge William Early had said: “It seems we have a 15-year-old child who appears to be living with a 20-year-old gentleman.”
“This is statutory rape if that man is responsible for the conception of the child. It seems the HSE has been informed and appears to have made no recommendations.”
“Either there are two different laws for people in this country or there are not. If people are to be treated equally before the law they should be treated equally and there should be similar expectations of people,” he had said.
“I understand that some cultures are impenetrable to a certain extent but they should be treated equally before the law,” he had also said..
