Robbers recruit children
Jun 25, 2010
IT’S a Monday afternoon and pupils of Lugazi Community School are in class. But a few metres from the school in the trading centre, a group of children in tattered clothes are combing dustbins for scrap.
By John Semakula
IT’S a Monday afternoon and pupils of Lugazi Community School are in class. But a few metres from the school in the trading centre, a group of children in tattered clothes are combing dustbins for scrap.Â
The children at the dustbins are aged 8-14-years and they qualify to be in school. They claim to be orphans and homeless and cannot afford scholastic materials.
Every morning, they comb the town for scrap and when the weather becomes too hot, they retreat to video halls to watch movies.
Here, they sit with adults and watch movies about sex scandals, murders and robberies. At these same halls, they also interact drug addicts and hardcore criminals who teach them bad habits.
Frank, 10, was recently arrested at a video hall in Namengo-Kiterede village, Lugazi town in Buikwe district over allegations of robbery.
He spent several days at Lugazi Police Station before he was released because he is a juvenile.
When Frank was released, his grandmother Mariam Nakibule refused to take him in for fear that he would spoil her other grandchildren.
He disappeared. To-date his grandmother, does not know where Frank is.
Frank’s father died years ago and Nakibule had offered to take him in, but he reportedly ran away from home and started sleeping in the video halls until his arrest.
Nakibule claims Frank teamed up with other criminals and they started terrorising residents. Frank is one of the many children who have been arrested in Luagzi and charged with various offences since the year began.Â
Lugazi is now notorious for children who steal whatever they come across. “You cannot leave anything that is made of aluminium, like a kettle, outside your house for 10 minutes and you find it.
The children would take it,†said Rehama Salim, the chairperson of Namengo-Kiterede village. “We arrest and hand them over to Police, but they are later released. Even the punishments given to them by the LC have not helped.â€Â Â
In a security operation carried out by the Police Rapid Response Unit recently, about 10 juveniles aged between 8-17 years were arrested.
Police say robbers use the children as spies. When these robbers break into houses the same children enter through narrow openings and then open doors or windows.
At times, the juveniles were pushed through windows to open doors.
There was also an incident where one of the boys, a 14-year-old, allegedly commanded a group of the gangsters.
Police said the boy used to live in one of the children’s remand homes where he had excelled at committing crime. He teamed up with criminals in Lugazi after he was released from prison.
The boy was given the title of “Afande†because he was courageous and during the operations his gang carried out, he was always consulted for the steps to take.
The victims of his operations in Lugazi were surprised when they learnt that Afande was a small boy only after he was arrested and paraded at Lugazi Police station.
He had ruthlessly commanded the members of his gang that its missions were always successful. Records at Lugazi Police station indicate that most of the juveniles who were arrested were later released without being charged either because they were needy or the victims did not follow up the case.
After they are freed, they return to Lugazi where they commit more crimes and get re-arrested.
The Lugazi Police station O/C, Najibu Waiswa, says the use of children had been going on for long because residents had not suspected they could be used for such acts.
The juveniles who were arrested had teamed up with criminals and formed a group called “Axe-Gang†which was responsible for most of the night raids in Lugazi.
The gangsters reportedly borrowed their name from a Chinese movie about a gang that used to raid villages and wreak havoc. They gangsters used pangas and axes to break into their victim’s houses.
The trend of robbers recruiting children, says Police, is not limited to Lugazi. In 2007, according to the crime report released by Police headquarters, 16 cases of children involved in robberies were reported countrywide.
In 2009, the number shot up to 133 cases of children in robbery and another 411 in thefts. This is a dramatic increase.
Lugazi Grade II Magistrate, Christopher Othieno, most of the juvenile offenders either come from broken families or are orphans. Othieno noted that court also finds it hard to seriously punish juveniles even after they are convicted because they are minors.
“Most of them steal because they are looking for what to eat,†he said, adding, “We regularly convict and caution them.â€
Othieno also noted that in other incidents, victims don’t follow up the juveniles in courts to testify against them and that was why they were being released shortly after arrest.
IT’S a Monday afternoon and pupils of Lugazi Community School are in class. But a few metres from the school in the trading centre, a group of children in tattered clothes are combing dustbins for scrap.Â
The children at the dustbins are aged 8-14-years and they qualify to be in school. They claim to be orphans and homeless and cannot afford scholastic materials.
Every morning, they comb the town for scrap and when the weather becomes too hot, they retreat to video halls to watch movies.
Here, they sit with adults and watch movies about sex scandals, murders and robberies. At these same halls, they also interact drug addicts and hardcore criminals who teach them bad habits.
Frank, 10, was recently arrested at a video hall in Namengo-Kiterede village, Lugazi town in Buikwe district over allegations of robbery.
He spent several days at Lugazi Police Station before he was released because he is a juvenile.
When Frank was released, his grandmother Mariam Nakibule refused to take him in for fear that he would spoil her other grandchildren.
He disappeared. To-date his grandmother, does not know where Frank is.
Frank’s father died years ago and Nakibule had offered to take him in, but he reportedly ran away from home and started sleeping in the video halls until his arrest.
Nakibule claims Frank teamed up with other criminals and they started terrorising residents. Frank is one of the many children who have been arrested in Luagzi and charged with various offences since the year began.Â
Lugazi is now notorious for children who steal whatever they come across. “You cannot leave anything that is made of aluminium, like a kettle, outside your house for 10 minutes and you find it.
The children would take it,†said Rehama Salim, the chairperson of Namengo-Kiterede village. “We arrest and hand them over to Police, but they are later released. Even the punishments given to them by the LC have not helped.â€Â Â
In a security operation carried out by the Police Rapid Response Unit recently, about 10 juveniles aged between 8-17 years were arrested.
Police say robbers use the children as spies. When these robbers break into houses the same children enter through narrow openings and then open doors or windows.
At times, the juveniles were pushed through windows to open doors.
There was also an incident where one of the boys, a 14-year-old, allegedly commanded a group of the gangsters.
Police said the boy used to live in one of the children’s remand homes where he had excelled at committing crime. He teamed up with criminals in Lugazi after he was released from prison.
The boy was given the title of “Afande†because he was courageous and during the operations his gang carried out, he was always consulted for the steps to take.
The victims of his operations in Lugazi were surprised when they learnt that Afande was a small boy only after he was arrested and paraded at Lugazi Police station.
He had ruthlessly commanded the members of his gang that its missions were always successful. Records at Lugazi Police station indicate that most of the juveniles who were arrested were later released without being charged either because they were needy or the victims did not follow up the case.
After they are freed, they return to Lugazi where they commit more crimes and get re-arrested.
The Lugazi Police station O/C, Najibu Waiswa, says the use of children had been going on for long because residents had not suspected they could be used for such acts.
The juveniles who were arrested had teamed up with criminals and formed a group called “Axe-Gang†which was responsible for most of the night raids in Lugazi.
The gangsters reportedly borrowed their name from a Chinese movie about a gang that used to raid villages and wreak havoc. They gangsters used pangas and axes to break into their victim’s houses.
The trend of robbers recruiting children, says Police, is not limited to Lugazi. In 2007, according to the crime report released by Police headquarters, 16 cases of children involved in robberies were reported countrywide.
In 2009, the number shot up to 133 cases of children in robbery and another 411 in thefts. This is a dramatic increase.
Lugazi Grade II Magistrate, Christopher Othieno, most of the juvenile offenders either come from broken families or are orphans. Othieno noted that court also finds it hard to seriously punish juveniles even after they are convicted because they are minors.
“Most of them steal because they are looking for what to eat,†he said, adding, “We regularly convict and caution them.â€
Othieno also noted that in other incidents, victims don’t follow up the juveniles in courts to testify against them and that was why they were being released shortly after arrest.