Chief Magistrate criticises parents for failing to guide children

This island’s Chief Magistrate has chastised some parents for “unleashing” their children on society after failing to instill strong values in them.

He leveled the criticism as he dealt with the case of 18-year-old Xavier Lamar Ka-Shawn Johnson who admitted to stealing three electronic devices that were gifted to some young people to assist with their online learning.

The young farmer from Gall Hill, St John pleaded guilty in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court to stealing two laptops and a tablet worth $2,520, belonging to the Crown, on Christmas Eve.

Police Constable Ralph Rollock disclosed that the accused had a habit of visiting the area where the devices were located. The items were reported missing and when he was questioned about it he admitted to taking them.

Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes granted a restitution order for the devices, which were recovered, to be returned.

In explaining his actions, Johnson said: “I wasn’t really myself and I am not that kind of person. I am not a thief.”

Asked what possessed him to commit the offence, the teenager replied: “I was going through a phase, little problems . . . [I] was getting little problems with my grandmother.”

Magistrate Weekes then criticised some of the island’s youth who he said knew nothing about sacrifice.

“The word sacrifice is what is missing from some young people today…. You have a sense of entitlement. They ain’t to do no chores, they are not to join any disciplinary organizations like the Cadets or Scouts – they are entitled.

“Wunna sit down and watch 50 Cent and all of these superstars, whether in sports or entertainment, and wunna feel wunna entitled to drive a BMW. I want you all to understand something — those who view Rihanna must understand that she has to work to maintain that empire she has and while she may hire people, she still has to do the physical work in the meetings, she still has to do the physical appearances and all of those things. So these myths that you all have, wunna got to get rid of them,” he advised.

Weekes also addressed Johnson’s stepfather who was present in court and had asked the court to give the youngster “a break, not a complete break but something besides jail time, some sort of probation”.

The judicial officer said some parents were falling short of their responsibilities when it came to instilling discipline in their charges — a situation he said troubled him.

“You see the young people, wunna running them in the ground, wunna ain’t got no discipline for them. A lot of parents are falling short. You all are not doing wunna jobs, but every time wunna children get caught in the system it is we who have to be sacrificing. Wunna ain’t doing nothing. So give him probation and give him community service so that wunna can go about your business.

“I would like to charge some of wunna parents . . . because wunna ain’t doing no work. Wunna unleashing these people without any value system on us. Then when we sit and listen to the news and hear that there was another murder or robbery, wunna going to be the first in the rum shop to talk about ‘these young people’, not remembering that wunna ain’t instill nothing in them. So what do we expect to come out of them? We got to have some foundation,” he added as he referred Johnson to a probation officer who was present in court.

The convicted thief now has to perform 200 hours of community service for his crime. In the meantime, he is on $1,500 bail and must reappear before Magistrate Weekes on April 1, 2022.