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AN ADOLESCENT who pleaded guilty to murdering his friend who had called him a “rat” has been sentenced to life in prison with a ten-year review.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, pleaded guilty in August to the murder of Glen ‘Ossie’ Osborne (20) at Ballybough House, Ballybough, Dublin, on April 15 this year.
Osborne’s partner, Lauren Cray, gave birth to her first child two months after her death.
The convicted child will remain in the Oberstown Detention Center until his 18th birthday, when he will be transferred to an adult prison.
Judge Paul McDermott of the Central Criminal Court today ordered that relevant health professionals prepare reports on the child’s 18th birthday and every two years after his transfer to the adult prison. The judge who reviews the case in 2030 will have access to those reports before deciding whether to continue his incarceration.
Judge McDermott said the most significant aggravating factor in the murder was that the teenager had armed himself with a knife before confronting Glen Osborne.
He said: “The fact that he brought a knife and contemplated using it, and the fact that he used it on another human being who he knew was unarmed, who was his friend and who didn’t know this was going to happen, was an aggravating factor in this case.”
The most important mitigating factor, the judge said, was that he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, indicating “his willingness to face his responsibility and assume what he has done.”
He pointed to the boy’s genuine “pain, regret and remorse” and said the guilty plea shows an “appreciation of the appalling damage he has inflicted on Glen Osborne’s family.”
He added that in some cases expressions of remorse may be symbolic in nature, but “not in this case.”
“He is serious and deeply ingrained and I think he means it sincerely,” added the judge.
The judge noted in several reports that the defendant has a drug problem that he started using at the age of 12 or 13. He also has a “very short wick and is very prone to anger.”
He suffers, the judge said, from behavior problems, boundary problems and anger problems that need to be addressed and are a “great concern.”
In addition, he described the boy as impetuous and said that he has a deficiency in his judgment. He also noted that he had a “chaotic lifestyle” and difficulties within his family growing up.
Judge McDermott said that since the boy had dealt a fatal blow with a knife, the appropriate sentence is life in prison. He added that the attack had “many of the characteristics of immaturity and stupidity, lack of judgment and proportionality,” but was not of the “most heinous or malicious” type, like a meticulously planned murder.
Therefore, he said, it could allow a review of life in prison after ten years.
Members of the boy’s family began to cry as the judge spoke.
Judge McDermott said he hopes the probation service will work with professionals in the system to provide a plan for the development of the child in the coming years until its review in 2030.
Evidence heard at the sentencing hearing
At a sentencing hearing in October, Detective Sergeant Ken Hoare of Mountjoy Garda Station told Pauline Walley SC for the Director of Public Prosecution that the defendant had a “somewhat problematic upbringing” and that he had been homeless with his mother during his adolescence.
He said his employer had promised the deceased that he would start a carpentry apprenticeship, but when Covid restrictions came in they fired him and he started using cannabis and cocaine.
The Sunday before his death he went to the defendant and they got drugs without paying. The next day the windows of Glen Osborne’s home were smashed in what the detective said was retaliation for the failure to make the payment.
Glen Osborne believed that the defendant had identified his home to these individuals, that he had “betrayed him on a third party.” On the day of the murder there were “angry messages back and forth” and the defendant was labeled a “rat”. An hour before the murder, the defendant’s own father sent him a message calling him a rat.
The defendant, carrying a white bag with a knife, took a taxi to Ballybough where he met the deceased at the entrance to Ballybough House. There was a fight that was interrupted by onlookers, but then a second fight began that was caught on CCTV.
Garda Hoare said the defendant, who had already taken the knife out of the bag, could be seen swinging his arm and stabbing Mr. Osborne once in the chest. A pathologist’s report showed that he died from a single stab wound that penetrated the heart and caused massive blood loss.
The defendant escaped but was on his way to Mountjoy Garda station with his mother and aunt planning to turn himself in when he was stopped by a Garda patrol that night. He accepted what he had done and pleaded guilty to murder.
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In a written statement to the court, Glen Osborne partner Lauren Cray said she and Glen fell in love, had moved and planned to have a child.
He was excited when he found out he was going to be a father and cried when he first heard the boy’s heartbeat. All she wanted, she said, was to have her son and for them to be together.
Glen’s mother, Rose, said Glen was a fighter from the day he was born six and a half weeks early. He was a “grafter” who got up early every morning to go to work and never brought trouble to his door.
She said: “Glen became a charming young man with a cheeky smile. He had the gift of speech and was charming with women. “
He was delighted when Lauren got pregnant, he said, adding: “When he was murdered it was the beginning of my nightmare. I died with Glen that day. “
He would have turned 21 in June of this year, “and that was worse than the funeral of my only son. They have taken away my reason to live. “
He said that he feels failing every day, but that he does not care because “he would gladly go to God.” She added, “I’m sitting broken and alone waiting for Glen to come in and say, ‘hi princess, what’s for dinner? “He said he would give anything to get his son back.” My ray of light is gone forever.
Garda Hoare said the defendant was distraught and genuinely repentant.
Garda Hoare agreed with defense attorney James Dwyer SC that the defendant had a chaotic background, as he was homeless and his parents had been in prison on several occasions. He said being called a rat would be an “extreme, negative” thing in the defendant’s social context.
Furthermore, he agreed that he had not used the knife at the beginning of the fight and that he did not set out to murder Glen Osborne when he went to Ballybough House.
In a written letter of apology, the defendant said he was sorry and heartbroken for what he had done. Turning to Rose Osborne, he said, “I say a prayer every night that you can get through this.”
Judge McDermott ended the sentencing hearing by offering his condolences to the family of the deceased.
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