YOC sentence for teen after a crime spree

YOC sentence for teen after a crime spree

28 August 2013

A NEWCASTLE teenager has been sent to a Young Offenders Centre for 11 months for committing a catalogue of offences.

Eighteen year-old Gavin Toner appeared at Downpatrick Court on Thursday on charges arising out of a number of incidents in Newcastle.

The first offence was on March 18 when he was drunk and walking along Mourne Rise with a group of men who were singing.

When they were approached by police Toner, of Shimna Wood, became angry and confrontational with the officers. He was charged with disorderly behaviour.

The next day Toner set fire to a pile of newspapers outside a newsagents in Newcastle, before assaulting a man and taking his £300 mobile phone.

Toner told police that he didn’t have the phone, but when he was taken into custody it was discovered in his sock. He was charged with theft, criminal damage and common assault.

On March 30, Toner found the owner of the mobile phone and threatened to assault him unless he withdrew the charge.. This incident led to a charge of intimidating a witness.

The final offence took place on August 14 when police were searching an address and Toner arrived on a pushbike.

When he tried to get away the officers smelt cannabis and found a rolled cigarette burning nearby, before Toner asked: “Your not going to arrest me for one joint are you?” He was charged with possession of cannabis.

On Thursday a defence solicitor told the court that Toner’s mother said that her son had a form of Asperger’s and explained: “There is some form of underlying problem.”

District Judge Greg McCourt told Toner: “You have been in and out of court since I came to Downpatrick.

“You come from a very supportive family who will give you all the help you need, but people in the town and people in society need to be protected from you,” he said.

Toner was sentenced to 11 months in Hydebank Young Offenders Centre.

Judge McCourt told Toner he should take all available opportunities in Hydebank and warned him: “When you come out, if you come before me then you will be getting the longest sentence I can impose.”