Tega Agberhiere, 17, was one of three victims of the attack

Tega Agberhiere (17) was one of the three victims of the attack. He suffered horrific injuries to his face, eyesight and other parts of his body when a substance was thrown on him. He plays for Waterford FC’s under-17 side and has represented Ireland at underage level.

His mother Christie Agberhiere says her “heart is broken” after being informed the alleged perpetrators would not be charged. She was speaking following a meeting with Waterford gardaí on Wednesday afternoon.

She said gardaí explained that, due to the alleged perpetrators being underage, and due to them not coming to Garda attention before the incident last April, the two will instead receive juvenile cautions.

Gardaí also told her, she said, that the two boys would need to avoid coming to Garda attention over the coming year.

Alleged perpetrators of acid attack on teenagers will not be charged (Irish Times)

Sponsored Link

21 thoughts on “Just Kids

  1. paul

    those attackers will have learned nothing beyond ‘we hurt someone and got away with it’. I’d imagine the Gardai will be noticing them and then ignoring them again before too long.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      Correct. This gang of scum are just laughing now.
      The law here is a complete joke. I can’t believe that nothing has been done.

  2. Brother Barnabas

    never thought I’d think this way but I’d like to see those little fuppers’ parents held to account for this

    1. Janet, I ate my avatar

      might make them take parenting more seriously, if that was my child I’d lock him up myself

  3. Spaghetti Hoop

    Acid is a truly awful weapon, damaging its victims permanently, physically and emotionally. Can’t believe this scum got off so lightly.

    1. newsjustin

      And its use is, without a glimmer of doubt, premeditated. You have to really, really plan to procure and use acid as a weapon.

  4. Scundered

    Drastically need laws changed in regards to youths and crime. Our population of scangers have currently nothing to fear, and this week look at the reported incidents of kids beating the public with iron bars to the head just to steal their bikes on the Grand Canal, change is needed and fast. These are all cases where we are lucky murder wasn’t the result.

  5. Liam Deliverance

    FFS, dysfunctional Ireland, we are the proverbial basket case now – The link says this was a decision of the DPP, why would it not go to court if a person has been assaulted, maimed and will suffer psychological issues for the rest of his life – Is this one for the mighty Charlie Flanagan to answer?

  6. Andrew

    The juvenile caution approach is advocated for those in social care and criminology. I have spoken to senior Gardaí about this. They have told me, that statistically the outcomes are better, in that the perpetrator is less likely to offend thereafter. This is in comparison to giving a custodial sentence, where the teenager is more likely to re-offend thereafter. The DPP has discretion on this and will take the advice of Gardaí on it, with regard the character of the teenager.
    I personally don’t agree with this approach, especially for very serious assaults such as this one, but there you go.

    1. Scundered

      We should be focusing on feelings of victims not perpetrators, keep the perpetrator locked up if he’s still a menace.

      1. Ciuncainteach

        This is not about the feelings of the perpetrators, but about what is in the better interests of society. The facts are that recidivism is reduced with this approach, which is why these policies are adopted.

        1. scundered

          And how do you think society feels about this verdict? Do you think they feel it was in their best interests?

  7. Bebe

    I can’t quite believe this – that authorities can look at the photo of the injured boy and hear his mother’s plea for justice for her seventeen year old son and not respond. we need a thorough explanation in Dáil Éireann from Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan

    1. DmcD

      If the story was the other way around it would have a different turn, imagine if a kid from other background that’s not Irish hurt an Irish kid in Ireland, there would be punishment. Oh Ireland behaving like America again!

      1. Andrew

        Do you know who the perpetrators were? I don’t think you do. I’m not sure what your point is? Are you trying to attach a racial motivation to this attack? If you are, then you’d be wrong.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie