The INFURIATING reason why M9 crash driver was in stolen BMW on tragic night - despite having been arrested in a stolen car just TWO WEEKS before crash that left innocent sisters and little boy fighting for life

By DEBBIE MCCANN and VALERIE HANLEY Published: 22:18, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 22:18, 23 August 2026 A member of the M9 gang was arrested in a stolen vehicle just two weeks before last weekend’s horror crash that claimed his life and that of four other teenagers, the Mail can reveal. But Kamil Pustkowski was back robbing cars later the same night because there were no places available at the country’s only juvenile detention centre. The Mail has also learned the 17-year-old was a member of a WhatsApp group set up by teenage car thieves to keep track of capacity levels at Oberstown Children’s Detention Centre. When the young offenders learn the facility in Lusk, Co. Dublin is full, they tell their friends to ‘run riot’. They then embark on ‘crime sprees’, safe in the knowledge they won’t be detained. A source said: ‘They know when Oberstown is at capacity and – as a result of that – they won’t be going into custody. Then they go on a right spree.’ Pustkowski appeared at the Children’s Court in Smithfield, Dublin, in July just weeks before the M9 crash, when he was arrested after being caught in a stolen car in Tallaght. Kamil Pustkowski appeared at the Children’s Court in Smithfield, Dublin, in July just weeks before the M9 crash And just hours after appearing in court, gardaí observed the 17-year-old in another stolen car that carried out a drive-off – when a motorist fills a vehicle with fuel at a service station and leaves without paying – on Junction 14 off the M7. A senor source familiar with the huge number of young offenders routinely being set free due to a lack of detention space told the Mail: ‘There absolutely needs to be an increase in capacity at Oberstown, this has to happen as a matter of priority. ‘We don’t take it lightly to be objecting to bail in juvenile cases and depriving them [young offenders] of their liberty – but there is a reason we do.  'These guys are a risk to themselves and society and as such, other services and supports have failed.  'As we see day in, day out, these youngsters engage in reckless criminality and we saw the devastating impact of that last weekend.’ The source said the ‘revolving door’ system acts as a significant disincentive for young offenders to obey the law, many of whom continue to reoffend as soon as they are released from custody. ‘It is very disheartening for gardaí. Gardaí have to go back to the victim of these crimes and explain to them that the judge wouldn’t hear our bail objection because there is no beds.  A source said: ‘They know when Oberstown is at capacity and – as a result of that – they won’t be going into custody. Then they go on a right spree.’ 'The victims then see these young fellas continue to commit crime in their communities and makes it look like there isn’t a response from us.’ This time last year, the President of the District Court, Judge Paul Kelly, warned the lack of sufficient detention places for teenage offenders who repeatedly breach bail risks bringing the child justice system ‘into disrepute’.  He also prophetically warned a ‘terrible accident’ may occur after he again had to give a teenage defendant bail because no beds were available at Oberstown. Last June, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said he was ‘very concerned’ to hear there was no space for two 17-year-olds at the juvenile detention centre who were accused of being armed, along with two adults, with a machine gun during a burglary.  In response to queries, the Department of Children this weekend said beds at Oberstown are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis, and that offenders can only be sent to the facility if a Judge establishes there are spaces available for them. However, Minister Norma Foley’s department referred specific questions about the number of occupied beds to Oberstown. Asked for figures for the number of youngsters released from custody since the beginning of August, a spokesperson for Oberstown – issued via Drury, a private Dublin-based PR company – said this data is ‘not publicly available’. According to figures on the detention centre’s website, there are spaces for 42 boys and four girls at Oberstown, although a source this weekend said the beds for female offenders were reduced to three in recent months because of the number of young males committing serious crimes. The website said 39 boys and one girl are currently detained at the facility. In March, there was 45 boys and two girls in custody and, on average, 40 of the 46 beds were occupied. The following month, there were 47 boys and two girls in custody and on average 43 beds were occupied. By May there were 50 boys and two girls in custody, and an average of 41 beds were used. Niamh and Alma Kinsella remain in a critical condition while their sister Ella Hendricken was also seriously hurt in the M9 crash near Moone In June, the numbers increased again; to 52 boys and two girls, with an average of 39 of the 46 beds occupied. However, no figures were available for July and August, when some of those involved in last weekend’s M9 crash were arrested by gardaí and subsequently released on bail. Staff at the centre are currently involved in industrial action about work conditions. They are due to stage a fourth work stoppage on Tuesday. Oberstown management rejected what it described as ‘misleading claims currently circulating in the public domain, particularly in relation to staffing, attrition and safety. Claims that more than half of staff recruited into approved frontline roles have since left are incorrect.’ But a source familiar with working and living conditions told the Mail this weekend: ‘Staff are leaving because they can get better terms and conditions in other public service jobs and every year the centre is losing about 30 per cent of its staff. Another source added: ‘The age of youngsters going there is getting younger and younger. In terms of Tusla involvement, Tusla tends to be overstretched in places. Very often Tusla allows young people to be aged out. ‘This means that, instead of providing them with secure care, these youngsters end up in Oberstown. This means youngsters go from the care system and into the criminal system.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.