A JUDGE HAS ordered the arrest of a 15-year-old boy who has admitted sexually assaulting four women and a teenage girl in Dublin while cycling past them.

Dublin Children’s Court heard evidence in January, and Judge Paul Kelly adjourned the case for a pre-sentence probation report to be prepared.

However, when the case was due to resume today, neither the teen nor his parents turned up.

Judge Kelly noted the probation raised concerns about the lack of engagement from the boy during the adjournment period.

The schoolboy has pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault as he cycled past them in two residential areas on three dates in March and April 2021 in the city’s north side.

Three incidents happened on the same day.

Detective Garda Alan Davis outlined the facts. On the first occasion, the boy, then 13, on his bicycle, approached a woman from behind in a park.

The woman was “smacked in the bum area”.

Four days later, at around 9.30am, he cycled to a jogger in the same area and “smacked her on the bum”. Three hours later, he did it to another woman in the park and afterwards to a girl in her mid-teens.

The court heard gardaí arrested him ten days later, and they released him pending a decision on charging him. However, almost three weeks later, at a second location, he approached a mother on her way to collect her children from a crèche. He was cycling from behind and “smacked her on the bum”.

The boy, accompanied to court by his parents to prior court appearances, has no prior criminal convictions.

The detective had agreed with defence counsel Amy Deane that gardaí needed special directions from the DPP because of the boy’s age.

He also accepted that the teenager was vulnerable and became upset when interviewed. However, the court heard the boy also made “some admissions” and apologised.

Detective Garda Davis agreed that the incidents were at the lower end of the scale for sexual assaults, quick and occurred while the boy was in motion.

Earlier, the defence handed into court a report from family therapy sessions. Counsel said it detailed “complex issues” in his life.

The boy had been ordered to obey bail conditions: no contact with complainants, a curfew, and he must stay away from the two areas where the incidents occurred.