Tempers ran high in Extension 9 when four teenagers caught trying to steal a gate last Wednesday were let off with a warning.
Tempers ran high in Extension 9 when four teenagers caught trying to steal a gate last Wednesday were let off with a warning.
Residents spotted four teenagers removing the gate from a household's perimeter fence in Nkonjane Street on Wednesday last week and called the area's Community Police Forum (CPF), who caught the boys and questioned them.
CPF member, Galpin Yawo, told Grocott's Mail that the boys (they do not attend school) told them they were going to sell the gate to metal recyclers, as they were craving cigarettes. Yawo said that all of the boys were "fully supported" by their families, and that need was not the motivation for the theft.
“We called the police, who warned the boys not to repeat this offence, and there was no arrest because the boys are still young," explained Yawo. "We told their parents to look after them, because we don't know what could happen next time."
But that left some residents furious. Sick and tired of crime in their area, they demanded that the teenagers, aged between 13 and 14, be charged with theft. Extension 9 resident, Sandiswa Mini, said they should be arrested, because they should "pay for their sins".
“Prison is the only way in which to get rid of criminals and their age doesn't matter to me,” said Mini. Another resident, Thandiswa Ngqiyaza, said the government should build sports centres, libraries and soccer fields to keep children active in the community and away from the streets, where they were vulnerable to criminal tendencies.
