A man has been jailed for six years after he tied a 14-year-old boy to a radiator, threw boiling water down his trousers and removed skin from his knees, knuckles and fingertips with a cheese grater.

Alan Ellis (21) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to false imprisonment and assault causing harm to the teenager on March 12th 2012.

Ellis, of Rathmines Road Lower, Rathmines in Dublin, brought the boy into a flat and said he wanted to show him how to tie a particular knot. He then used a hoover flex to tie the victim to the radiator before he tortured him for almost an hour and a half.

Ellis has since been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced him to a total of 9 years in prison with three suspended for this and other offences, including assault causing harm and burglary.

After reading probation, medical and psychiatric reports Judge Hogan noted that Ellis has a very high risk of re-offending.

He said Ellis has "a propensity to do very violent things", and that he seems to be getting worse. However he commented that it is Ellis's drug-taking that leads him to commit crime, not his mental problems.

Arrest after hospital discharge

Garda Eddie Fallon told Cormac Quinn BL, prosecuting that Ellis was convinced the teenager had found a stash of drugs.

Ellis started to shout at him that he owed him "€3,000 for pills", even though Garda Fallon said there was no evidence that the teenager had found any drugs or that he owned Ellis money.

The teenager managed to escape after he told Ellis that his father had some money and if he released him he would go to his house, get the cash and return.

The teenager did not return and the gardaí were alerted. But before officers arrived at the flat, Ellis was attacked at his home and taken to James's Hospital. He was arrested after he was discharged.

A victim impact report before the court said the now 16-year-old boy had burns to his genitals and inner thighs. It was initially believed he would need skin grafts but the skin has since healed and he continues to receive treatment.

His mother outlined in the statement that the assault has changed her son's life and he has since left school.