A troubled 15-year-old girl stirred up courtroom drama on Monday as she shouted and banged despite police officers, a social worker, lawyers and her own mother trying to reason with her.
“It’s useless going to [young offenders’ unit] YOURS. Once I get out, I’d still do what I have to do. I need a programme which would truly help me,” she told the court.
The Cospicua teenager, who has already been through several brushes with the law and spent time in custody at the young offenders unit, was found in a “bad state” by police after being reported missing for some days.
She was given medical treatment and charged on Monday with having violently resisted several police officers, allegedly biting four of them, last Saturday.
The teenager refused a legal aid lawyer and insisted on having Antonio Depasquale as her counsel. Dr Depasquale offers voluntary legal assistance to troubled youngsters and had previously spoken to the accused during her stint at YOURS.
“She needs a lot of help,” Dr Depasquale explained once the hearing got underway, adding that the girl wished to move on in life but the system “must give her help.”
A probation officer who has been following the teen for quite some time told magistrate Charmaine Galea that the girl tended to be contained while in custody, only to slip back into bad behaviour once she was out.
“We feared that eventually she would be found dead somewhere,” the probation officer said, adding that options of rehabilitation for her drug addiction were rather limited on account of her age.
A social worker echoed similar concerns, saying that although the girl could “discern right from wrong” yet once let out from custody she would always revert to bad habits.
The troubled teen could not break free of the bad company of older people involved in drug and other criminal circles, the witness explained.
A request for bail was strongly objected to by prosecuting inspector Christabelle Chetcuti who argued that the girl was “not trustworthy”, having breached earlier bail conditions and attacked the police.
After hearing all submissions and testimonies and occasionally lending an ear to whatever the nervous girl had to say in open court, duty magistrate Charmaine Galea turned down the request for bail in view of the nature of the offence and the breach of earlier bail conditions.
The court further recommended that the Director of Prisons assist the girl in every possible way by collaborating with her probation officer and social worker while proceedings continued before the Juvenile Court.
The court issued a ban on publication of the girl’s name.
Inspector Eman Hayman also prosecuted.
Lawyer Raisa Colombo also appeared as defence counsel.