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David and Darren’s tale
It is 11.30 pm. The police have received a telephone call from Mrs Smith who told them that she has just seen two boys smashing the panels of the local payphone. She gives a description, saying that the boys are young, one is wearing combat trousers, an anorak with a fluorescent Nike tick logo on the back and the other is wearing a light grey jacket and what looks like a football scarf. She said they were using a long stick. Mrs Smith can see the payphone well from her bedroom window as it is lit by a street lamp. The police immediately drive to the area and see the damage caused but the boys have gone.
Ten minutes later another patrol car sees two boys who fit the description that they have been given. They pull over and ask the boys some questions.
At first the boys deny all knowledge of the damage but one of them keeps very quiet, and eventually becomes upset.
The police notice that the other boy has a baseball bat down the front of his jacket. The police decide that they should arrest the boys and take them down to the police station. At the police station, the boys give their names and addresses and their ages. David is 14 and Darren is 11 – they are brothers. The police call their home.
Their mother answers the phone and is very upset to hear what has happened. She is unable to come to the police station as she is on her own at home with her two other children. The police call the Youth Offender Team (YOT) and ask if someone can come to the station. Bob from YOT arrives 30 minutes later and immediately goes and speaks to David and Darren to find out what has happened. Bob asks for a duty solicitor to come to the station and in the meantime he rings his office to see if the boys are known to social services.
Sheila the duty solicitor arrives and speaks to the boys in private first of all. Then David and Darren are interviewed by the police with both Bob and Sheila present.
During the interview David tells the police that he did smash the payphone with the baseball bat because he was fed up. He also tells the police that although Darren was with him he did not cause any of the damage. He also tells the police that he had also damaged two other payphones and a bus shelter. After the interview David signs a form to say that he agrees to have his fingerprints and his photograph taken for police records.
The police decide to charge David with causing criminal damage to the pay phones and bus shelter. David has been in trouble before. About a year ago he got involved in a minor scuffle outside the school gates. The Police gave him a reprimand for that trouble. Six months ago he damaged a school gate for which the Police gave him a warning. Now, as David has received a reprimand and a warning he will have to go to court and explain his actions.
David is given a date when he has to go to the youth court. He is given police bail with a condition that he has to stay in at home every night from 8 pm to 8 am in the morning. This is because the police are concerned that David is out committing these offences very late at night. David signs a form to say that he understands the condition and that he understands what has happened. Sheila tells David that she will arrange for him to have a solicitor in court with him.
Bob takes him home
and explains what has happened to his mother.
Three weeks later David appears at the youth court with his mum. They pass through security at the court entrance and give their name to a lady in a black cloak. This is the usher who notes David’s arrival and tells them which court the case will be heard in. David and his mum go to the waiting room outside the court and wait for the usher to come back and tell them to go in. There are several other people also waiting. Huw arrives – David’s solicitor – they have a chat and Huw explains what will happen in court. David tells him that he is going to plead guilty and that he did it because he was fed up with arguing with his mum about some trainers that he wanted.
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Eventually the usher calls David’s name and they go into the courtroom. His mum stays by his side. There are several other people in the court already – three magistrates, the prosecutor, the court clerk and two people from the youth offender team.
David stands up and gives his name, address and his date of birth. David sits down and listens to the clerk who reads out the charges. The clerk asks David if he wishes to plead guilty or not guilty. David pleads guilty.
The prosecutor tells everyone in the court a summary of what happened and that the damage caused will cost £1,600 to repair. He also tells the court that David has been in trouble with the Police before. He had received a reprimand for a fight outside of school and a warning for some criminal damage of the school gates. Huw, David’s solicitor, stands up and tries to explain why David committed these new offences. He says that David is very sorry for what he did.
The magistrates decide that they need some more information about David before they decide what to do next. They ask for a Pre-sentence Report and ask David to come back to court in three weeks time.
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The magistrates decide that David should still have conditional bail, which includes a curfew. The magistrate in the middle who is chairing the court tells David very clearly that he must be at home every night between 8 pm and 8 am and warns him not to ignore this condition otherwise he will be getting himself into even more trouble.
Three weeks later David and his mum go back to court. They have met with Jeff from the YOT team twice. Jeff has also got some information from David’s school.
When they go back into
court the prosecutor gives brief details of the offences before the
magistrates read the pre-sentence report. Huw is there again to speak
on David’s behalf and tries to persuade the court that David is
very sorry for what he has done and that he should not be punished
too
harshly.
The report tells the magistrates that David is dyslexic and has difficulties with reading and writing and is being picked on by other children in the class. He has become very unhappy at school and has started to miss lessons. As a result David has started to bully his two younger brothers and his general behaviour at home has got much worse so that his mum is finding it difficult to deal with him. As David has not been to Court before and as he pleaded guilty he is sentenced by the magistrates to a three-month Referral Order.
David, with his mum, will be expected to appear before a Youth Offender Panel. They will draw up a contract with David. This contract may include writing letters to the phone and bus companies to apologise for the damage that he has caused. The aim of the contract will be to stop David getting in trouble with the Police again.
David and his mum are able to make an appointment with Neil from the youth offender team for the following week and then leave the court.
David and Darren's Tale