THE sentencing of a 13-year-old has brought into focus the teenaged crime wave that has suddenly swept over Guyana and has resulted in dozens of homes being broken into at the Paradise Housing Scheme on the East Coast Demerara in recent months.

The youth is said to be a member of a youth gang which has operated in the village almost with impunity for months now, breaking into homes and shops both at night and during the day, and carrying off cash, D.V.D players, laptops, jewellery, food, clothing and other items.     
Sources told this paper that the eldest of these gang members is believed to be about 16, whilst the youngest is just about nine years old.
Personnel from the Guyana Police Force, the Probation and Welfare Department and the Social Security Ministry say that this phenomenon of teen crime is most disturbing. One probation officer pointed out that in some of these cases parents encourage their children in these crimes as a means of obtaining money to support their households.
The youth in question was caught and sentenced after allegedly breaking into Yvette Torrington’s home in Eighth Street, Paradise Housing Scheme, on April 4th, 2011. He was also said to be one of three youths caught red-handed breaking into a shop on Factory Road, Paradise about two weeks previously. Those perpetrators were released by the police after a few days in custody.
Police sources say that the gang is the most prolific of any of the criminal gangs operating on the East Coast Demerara. They perpetrate more crimes than adult gangs operating in the area. They are said to have broken into at least nine houses on one street in recent weeks. 
According to police sources, the Paradise Housing Scheme has the worst crime rate of any East Coast settlement, being more frequently targeted by criminals than any other area.     
Residents allege that the gang consists of both boys and girls living in the area; and that, in a few cases, their parents are known to be involved in some of these crimes with their children. The mother of one of the boys is said to have spent time in a Surinamese prison, and has a son serving time in French Guiana.  She is also alleged to have been a cook for the gang in Buxton in its heyday, and is reputed to have boasted of having a hand in organizing the bank robbery at Rose Hall Town, East Berbice, in 2006.  
Another parent, the step-father of a teenaged girl suspected of stealing residents’ clothes from off lines, was severely beaten by some residents of Bare Root, East Coast Demerara a while ago, after he was accused of stealing from them. He was accused of using his step-daughter to sneak into people’s yards and steal clothing, which were then allegedly sold at a ‘bend-down boutique’ in Mahaica Market.
Police sources say they decided to prosecute the youth because this was his fifth case pending at the police station, and that he had been given enough chances. Police as well as residents in the area say they believe that the youngsters are being used by adult criminals. 
The Paradise Housing Scheme is one of the more recent housing schemes on the Lower East Coast Demerara.
Residents say the juvenile criminals and their adult accomplices are familiar with the habits of all their victims, they being residents of the area. They break into houses when the owners are away at work or on holiday. “Most of the people in here are employed elsewhere,” one resident explained. “So, between 8:00hrs in the morning and about 3:00hrs in the afternoon, the criminals have the area almost to themselves.”

The criminals find it easy to operate in the area, because about 90 percent of the houses are flat, making them easier to enter than higher houses, which one has to climb up to get into. In addition, most houses have louvre panes, and few have grill work protecting them. The relatively large amount of unfinished and unoccupied houses in the housing scheme has been identified as one of the circumstances favouring the criminals, who use them as hideouts or points of reconnoitre. 
In addition, residents say they have witnessed criminals entering these structures with one set of clothing and exiting with another, suggesting that the houses are used for changing garbs after commission of a crime.
In an attempt to put an end to this practice, the residents of Eighth Street destroyed one of those unfinished structures some time ago.