Alarming number of youths being prosecuted for serious crimes

By Sunita Samaroo

“The youth involvement in crime tells you that there is a general sense of hopelessness and that the young people are seriously seeking attention by any means necessary” – Commissioner of ROC

Recently, it seems as though crime is the bitter fruit which continues to poison society. While some may argue that crime has always been the ‘kid on the block,’ one can with ease point to the statistics recently released by the Guyana Police Force, which clearly point to an upsurge of criminal activity.

Some of the youths who perpetrated the law

It wouldn’t take much to notice that many recent headlines have begun with the words “youth” “teen” or “teenager.” Murder charges The most recent was the charge instituted against a 17-year-old for the murder of a taxi driver. Through tracking cellular phone data, investigators were allegedly led to the youth who, police claim, allegedly played a part in murdering and dumping the man’s body in a garbage heap. What many have recorded as alarming for his case is that since just three days before the murder arraignment, the said youth was charged for two separate carjackings. Just a few days before, a 15-year-old was brought before an East Coast Demerara Magistrate for the murder of his two-year-old niece. The child is said to have died under suspicious circumstances, a few hours after she was playing in the yard with her cousins. Later on, a post mortem examination had shown that the child was sodomised. His case was one which sparked outrage in both his home and society at large. Then there was 20-year-old Orin Rodriquez, charged with murdering his step-aunt and her son at Moblissa, in the Linden/Soesdyke area. In the city, just one day before Rodriquez, 19-year-old Brian Leitch was charged with murdering the South Central hotel proprietor in his room. Meanwhile, Delon Glasgow, 18, was recently committed to stand trial for the murder of his friend, whose body was found floating near the Princes Street koker.

Victims of youth crimes

It must be noted that murder is not a crime which allows bail so they are all held in the prisons as remanded prisoners. Carjacking At least four carjacking accusations have been leveled against teenagers. Adding to his murder charge, the 17-year-old who allegedly killed the Pegasus taxi driver has been indicted for two other carjackings. One victim recorded that four youths who entered his car brandished a broken glass bottle, threatened his life before they tossed him out of his car. However, the teen has been the only one of that four captured so far. The court heard that they, the accused and a 16-year-old, beat yet another taxi driver into a state of unconsciousness before escaping with his car. But the upsurge in these acts are not only seen in the city, Lesley Griffith, a 19-year-old from Linden was also named in a daring $4M robbery in which he and two others allegedly attacked a South Amelia’s Ward Linden family and robbed them of cash, jewellery and electronic gadgets before stealing their car. They were all remanded to prison when they appeared before two separate city Magistrates. Kidnapping Years after instances of kidnapping had dropped in Guyana, a story came forth and it involved yet another youth. A 19-year-old from Vigilance, East Coast Demerara is currently on remand for stealing a four-month-old girl. Reports are that she uplifted the baby from a day care centre and asked a Pouderoyen family to keep “her baby.” She is expected to reappear in court on Valentine’s Day. Robbery It goes on. The popular thing now is wanted, which follows the question: dead or alive? Many have wondered, what was he doing in the man’s house? Shouldn’t he be in school at 13:30 on a Wednesday? He, in this case, refers to the 15-year-old who appeared on the front page of this publication, a little over a week ago. He was shot dead by the proprietor whose premises he and others had robbed. However, it must be noted that the most baffling armed robbery of the lot was that of three University of Guyana students, who allegedly held a Robb Street store clerk at gun point and relieved him of almost $9M. A different fate however was determined for 19-year-old Travis Evans of Cane View Avenue, South Ruimveldt as he was jailed on three counts of armed robbery which he admitted to committing on a city store. Reports are that he ventured into the entity, stuck up the patrons of the store with a hand gun and made off with about $2M in cash and gadgets. Their cases however, may not have raised as many eyebrows as that of a 12-year-old Sophia resident charged for snatching $1.2M from a Chinese national on Main Street, just moments after he was allegedly refused a ‘raise’ from the man. Possession of firearms, ammo But the question is how are these youths equipping themselves for these crimes? Where do they get these guns from? Are they even old enough to hold licences? A matter of days ago, police officers who were acting on a tip made their way to the residence of 18-year-old Alex Mendonca in whose room they reportedly found a .32 Taurus semi-automatic pistol as well as 26 live matching rounds. He was later arraigned and remanded. However, that discovery seems minimal when compared to the teens who were arraigned the very next day. Kevin George, 18, of Castello Housing Scheme, Georgetown and a 17-year-old of 158 Curtis Street, Albouystown were brought before the Chief Magistrate for what was described as an alarming find. The two youngsters reportedly had an M16 rifle and 61 rounds of .223 ammunition, as well as one concussion and one explosive grenade. With so many of our youths being held for serious crimes, one wonders what the future of this country looks like. Response Ms. Nicole Cole, Commissioner of Rights of the Child, believes that the nation’s youths appear to be adrift. She claims that Guyana’s social institutions are severely failing its youths. It was also through examining the upsurge of youth involvement in crime that Ms. Cole has affirmed that “The youth involvement in crime tells you that there is a general sense of hopelessness and that they are seriously seeking attention by any means necessary.” She believes that the breakdown of society’s moral fiber is synonymous with the breakdown of the premier social institution: the family. “Family values are clearly adrift. What the youths need are proper role models and adults are to be their role models. But many parents are a far cry from being proper role models.” Cole goes on however, stating that schools and churches are also failing. “Churches can do so much more. This is a regular place to go to. Why is it that a country with so many churches, appear to be lacking in the moral fiber for the youth to look up to and behave in a manner which demonstrates that they want to lead this country?” “Where are the safety nets for children that are not academically inclined? We are clearly not moulding our children for the future. We need to expend to ensure the employment of the necessary resources and institutions to tackle the issue.” The Commissioner claims that the country’s administrators should not say that it is too expensive to implement these things. “We clearly need counselors. Some of the children are not prepared for the long road, they are trying to get rich quick so they choose paths that are inimical to sustainable development,” she lamented. Commenting on the New Opportunity Corps, she stated, “NOC is not going to solve the problem. We need to employ psychologists and do assessments so that we can tackle the problem.”

GUYANA SWEET SWEET LIKE SUMOOTOO!

This is a corner stone in the PPP political strategy to keep the East Indians in a cow pen.  Unfortunately, East Indians are now 39% of Guyana population.  

Even if all of them vote for the PPP 39% is not > 50%.

So this is an out dated strategy.

The PPP is in real political trouble. 

The challenge is the opposition continue to mess up on the opportunities presented to them, thus allowing the PPP to win the plurality AGAIN.