Teen ransacks four operating theatres
An 'out of control' 17-year-old burglar, who ransacked four operating theatres in the Mater Hospital in Dublin and stole vital medical equipment and drugs, has been remanded on bail to await sentence.
At the Dublin Children’s Court Judge Claire Leonard imposed strict bail conditions on the teenage boy and warned that if he broke them he would be put into custody.
The teen was ordered to remain sober, reside at his mother’s address, to stay out of certain areas in north inner city Dublin and to obey a nightly curfew to be in his home between 9pm and 8am, pending sentence.
A pre-sentence probation report was also sought on the north Dublin teenager who was described by the judge as “out of control”.
The out-of-school and unemployed teen’s own mother agreed with the judge’s comment and said “that is what is wrong. He is out of control I just can’t cope with him.”
The teen had pleaded guilty to trespassing, burglary, criminal damage and Public Order Act charges committed over the last two years.
Garda Alan Fitzgerald of Mountjoy station said that on November 26 last “security in the hospital showed me offices that had been ransacked. I was then taken to the operation area. Four operating theatres had been ransacked with cabinets opened and medicines thrown over the floor”.
“Later the teenager was found asleep in the grounds of the hospital. He had alcohol taken and was in possession of a large number of surgical instruments and medicines worth €2,500.”
He said that if some the medicines the teen had taken, which included anaesthetics, were administered incorrectly “they could be lethal”.
The court was told that when arrested the teenager had no memory of what he had done due to being heavily intoxicated.
The court also heard he attempted to burgle one of his grandmother’s neighbours and in another incident vandalised three cars while heavily drunk and committing a breach of the peace.
The boy had earlier attended a special education school and had previously attended for counselling at the hospital which he ransacked.
The teen, who was accompanied to court by his mother, who also said her son “comes and goes as he wants”, was remanded on bail to appear again later this month for a probation report to be considered and sentencing.
