Three juveniles, facing five counts of robbery with a knife, were all refused bail at Galway District Court.
Judge Mary Fahy said that promises that curfews would be observed were insufficient, as it was quite obvious that the parents of the youths, who are aged 15 and 16, were not able to control them.
They are each charged, by the principal of common design, of robbing a woman of her iPhone and €30 cash at Dun Na Coiribe; of robbing two women on separate occasions at Castlelawn Heights, and of robbing two men of wallets and phones separately in Gort Na Coiribe.
The total value of the loss allegedly runs into the thousands of euro, and all occurred in the space of one hour on Sunday, September 3.
Garda Brendan Sweeney outlined to the court that the defendants were all arrested on the Headford Road in the early hours of that same morning. They were taken to Galway Garda Station, where they were charged just after midnight the following day.
The State application was to remand the trio, who cannot be named because of their ages, in custody. The bail applications made on their behalf by solicitor, Sean Acton, were strenuously opposed.
He put it to the Garda that none of his clients had a history of bench warrants, of breaching bail and, in fact, had never been before the courts.
While the State accepted this, the Garda outlined a number of concerns and objections, among them that the alleged victims had been in fear of their lives.
Mr Acton assured the court that any concerns could be addressed by way of a curfew, if the court were inclined to grant bail.
However, the Judge and State did not agree with him. Judge Fahy admitted to having “serious concerns” that the parents of the boys had little or no control over them, adding that these robbery cases would probably be deemed too serious by the DPP to be heard at District Court level.
She remanded each in turn in custody to Oberstown Children Detention Campus.
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