Machete-wielding child robbers end up in Maputo police cells – Mozambique

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Machete-wielding child robbers end up in Maputo police cells – Mozambique

1:07 CAT | 14 Oct 2016

Folha de Maputo (File photo)

Four teenagers, aged between 13 and 17 years, found themselves in the cells at the 12th precinct police station in Maputo, accused of criminal association and using bladed weapons. Up until the closing time of A Verdade yesterday, they had not been released. One of the accused, who claims to have acted under the influence of friends and a desire for the easy life, is the son of a policeman.

According to police, the minors referred to were caught in Maputo’s Malhangalene neighbourhood, adding that they robbed people with machetes between 11:00 PM and midnight.

In Mozambique, minors coming into conflict with the law are not criminally responsible and must undergo rehabilitation in society, not in prison. The deprivation of liberty is only used when it comes to offences or crimes for which there is no other appropriate response, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, this is not always fulfilled to the letter, and there are children in prison.

One of the teenagers involved said: “I and my five friends were caught committing robbery at night in the Malhangalene neighbourhood. We would threaten people and they would give us their mobile phones, money and other goods.”

“I joined my friends for the thrill and to have money like them, but I will never do it again. I am repentant,” another member of the gang and son of a policeman said.

“We bought one of these machetes in Xipamanine market. The others, only my friends know where they’re from. I was not there,” said another gang member, on the verge of tears from realising the problem he had got himself into.

Another gang member related how he and his cronies had left home around 9:00 PM and met at a prearranged location to start the hunt for more victims in the city. That day, at around 11:00 PM, fate knocked on the door of a family in Malhangalene.

“As we were going in to steal a bicycle, we found two men armed with machetes, Galide and Momed. They were assaulting a couple and they called us when we went closer to see what was going on. And suddenly there was a crowd of people, and they arrested us.”

In 2014, the Mozambican justice authorities estimated that at least 17,000 children and adolescents were detained, with numbers on the increase. The bulk of this number were in rehabilitation centres.

Nowadays, more and more children get involved in crimes and “this not a new phenomenon,” said Maria Oliveira, Judge President of the Juvenile Court, in an interview with a local newspaper last year.

She noted that minors committed serious crimes such as homicide, assault, rape, robbery and theft, saying that “the high cost of living and parental negligence was contributing to the growing involvement of minors [in crime]”.

Another development was the high number of minors in the 11 to 15-year age in criminal gangs of two to eight members. “Some of these are repeat offenders and hard to correct,” leaving parents “desperate and asking for help”.

“Yesterday we said that adults were using minors in the commission of the crime. Today this statement is called into question, because minors are committing heinous crimes without any adult input. This covers neighbourhoods in Maputo and beyond. This concerns not only the Juvenile Court but must become a subject of reflection for all sectors that deal with minors directly or indirectly,” Judge Oliveira said at the time.

Source: A Verdade