Judge praises Limerick mum after teen son threatened to kill her ‘stone dead’

THE mother of a 16-year-old boy who had threatened to kill her on two separate occasions, has pleaded in court for him to be given a “last chance” to turn his life around.

“If he starts going in and out of jail now, that is his life. I don’t want that for him,” she told Judge Carol Anne Coolican at Newcastle West court.

“I do love my son with all my heart,” she said. But she added: “At this moment in time, I don’t trust my son.” She was afraid, she said, that he would do what he had done before and it would be “for the best” if her son stayed with her sister and husband.

The teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was in court to finalise charges which had been adjourned from a previous court for a probation report.

But he was also facing two new charges of threatening to kill his mother.

Inspector Pat Brennan told the judge that on March 20 last year, while he was being detained in Oberstown Children Detention Campus, the teenager was on the phone to his mother who told him of her plan to marry her partner. (who was not the boy’s father).

“He became extremely angry and threatened that when he got out he was going to kill her stone dead, threatened to cut her throat, threatened that he was going to burn down her house with her inside and that he was going to stab her partner,” the inspector said.

The following day, March 21 last year, the boy rang his mother again and became extremely angry and volatile. “The accused threatened her life and called her a whore,” Inspector Brennan said. The accused again said he was going to kill her and cut her throat, he continued, and again threatened to burn down her house with her and his grandmother in it.

Judge Coolican said that if the accused were not a minor, she would not be accepting jurisdiction and adjourned the hearing to find out if the boy’s mother wanted to make a statement.

When the hearing resumed later in the day, the mother said: “I do love him even though what he did was wrong.” Maybe, she said, she had done something wrong when rearing him but Judge Coolican said: “You are not on trial.”

The mother said it would be best if her son went with her sister who was prepared to give him one chance. If he wasn’t good for her, the mother said, her sister would send him straight back. “I don’t want him to be a jailbird,” she said.

Pleading for his client, the boy’s solicitor Michael O’Donnell said the woman had been an “outstanding mother” to her son and said the boy was fortunate his aunt was willing to take him under her wing. He had spent time in Oberstown last year, Mr O’Donnell said, and did not wish to return there.

Judge Coolican thanked the mother for being “so eloquent and articulate despite what has happened in the past”.

“You are very brave,” she said.

But she noted that the probation report was “troubling” and stated that the boy had expressed no remorse for previous charges going back to 2020 and was ‘a high risk’. I have to take into account the gravity of the behaviour,” she continued. She also noted the circumstances of the boy’s background and that he had been referred to a number of services but had received limited support.

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Her concern was that there was a pattern of behaviour which had escalated in frequency and intensity. She was also concerned about putting the mother at risk.

She ruled to adjourn all charges for one year, on condition the boy stay with his aunt and stay away from direct contact with his mother. “I do hope X will take this last chance which I hope will not put you (his mother) in jeopardy,” the judge said. Addressing the boy, she said. “She loves you. She wants you to do well in life.”

She described his behaviour as appalling and dangerous. “If you continue down this road, it cannot end well for anyone.”

The boy was remanded on continuing bail to February 15, 2023 .