Evidence and fresh bail bid due for teen allegedly caught ‘digging up gun’

Tom Tuite

A youth allegedly caught "digging up" a sawn-off shotgun linked to feuding crime gangs in Dublin has been kept in custody to be served with a book of evidence and a bail hearing later this week.

The then 17-year-old boy was refused bail earlier after being charged with unlawful possession of a side-by-side double-barrelled shotgun on May 7th at Tolka Valley Park, contrary to the Firearms Act.

He has been in custody since shortly after the seizure and his case was back before the Dublin Children's Court on Monday.

Judge Shalom Binchy adjourned the case until Wednesday when prosecutors are to serve the youth, now 18, with a book of evidence.

He is to get a trial order, sending the case to a higher level, and the case will also be listed for a possible fresh bail application.

Earlier, Garda Daniel Sweeney told the court: "He was caught red-handed in possession of a firearm; it was a sawn-off shotgun; that's not for hunting, there is no lawful purpose to have it, it is to seriously harm or kill someone."

"This related to an ongoing feud," he said, adding that the boy "associates with one side of two organised crime groups in a feud; he was present when two people were murdered".

Further drug offences charges have been brought against the teenager.

At the teen's first hearing in May, a judge had noted claims in the bail objections that the teenager "was alone at a location in the process of digging up what turned out to be a double-barrelled shotgun" and that it was allegedly in his possession when gardaí caught him.

The teen, who has yet to indicate a plea, can re-apply for bail when a trial order stage has been reached.

Defence counsel Doireann McDonagh, instructed by solicitor Simon Fleming, said the teen was seeking bail.

Describing the youth as vulnerable, she asked the judge to note his background difficulties and his age and said he had no prior criminal convictions.