Budding dangerous thugs

Iwonder what is going on with the youngsters in this country and with the judiciary system! Only a few weeks ago, a gang of youngsters who had been binge drinking and, possibly, also on drugs, wreaked havoc in the street where I live in San Ġwann, damaging a large number of cars. They also damaged the garden in the street behind us. Nothing has been heard about this, no mention or updates by the police.

Then, on January 22, we got a message that our son, a friend and his best friend were attacked by a mob of six or seven youngsters. Needless to say, with six persons against one, our son ended up in hospital with bruises and cuts.

This was an attack by frustrated teenagers on boys their age sitting on a bench quietly enjoying the evening at the children’s playground in Sliema next to the Tower. People saw this happen and no one went to see if they needed any help or to stop this vicious attack.

Is this the fault of parents or guardians? Is this the fault of the children themselves? What if next time somebody gets stabbed? One of the assailants, I was told, had previous warnings for carrying a knife.

One of them boasted over the internet to a friend of how he beat up our son and what he did to him. It was also overheard that they were planning to look up our son and his two friends again to attack them the second time.

The incident was reported to the police but, as usual, when you go back and try to find out what is happening you never get satisfaction from anyone at the station. We don’t even know whether these boys were taken in for questioning.

In this country, as in others, I would think, minors cannot be arraigned for such misbehaviour. So what now? Can they just keep on assaulting every Tom, Dick and Harry they see in the knowledge that they can get away with anything? Who will be the next victim, a pregnant woman, an elderly person, children – your children – your elderly parents or your pregnant wife?

Only a few days ago we read that a young teenage girl was assaulted and beaten up because of her sexual orientation. Are we witnessing a generation of hooligans and thugs? Do we blame them, their parents or society?

This cannot keep going on and on without anything being done. Perhaps fining their parents or guardians might help but youngsters who don’t care about physically abusing someone else are not going to care whether their parents or guardians pay money. They need to be thought a lesson.

If they cannot be placed in juvenile detention, then let them do civil duties, like cleaning up. While at it, let them also wear a uniform so that people will know who these culprits are and perhaps they may feel ashamed of what they did.

This could teach them to behave. If not in them, it might make others think before they do something irrational.

I am afraid that if these youngsters are not stopped today they may grow into criminals, perhaps murderers or rapists, and it won’t be just one or two, it would be a whole lot more.

Are we safe in this country? Well, speaking personally, I don’t feel safe and I feel that the police and the justice department are not doing enough to protect us.

I hope that the police will do something concrete this time and teach these thugs a lesson. We would like to feel safe both for our sake and for the sake of our children and the elderly.