• Irresponsibility of parents and child negligence blamed for the rise of children offenders.
• Children's court takes responsibility and finds a suitable place for children who have been neglected.
Violent theft cases involving minors are growing at the Tononoka Children’s Court in Mombasa.
Other cases involve children running away from their homes.
Speaking during the Tononoka children’s court users committee open day, Senior Resident Magistrate Viola Yator, who is in charge of the children’s court, blamed on such cases on parents' negligence.
“Poor parenting purely, because if you do not know the whereabouts of your child from morning to evening, it leads to that child to lack a sense of direction because there is no one to discipline the child,” Yator said.
She also blamed poverty in a family where parents do not take the child to school.
“Also poverty, maybe the parents lack the funds to take their children to school,” she said.
She urged parents to keep track of their children so that they can have a better direction in life.
“I urge parents to be there for their children and show a good example to the children and always know the whereabouts of their children. They should make sure if they are going to school, they should make sure that they know they are in school and not roaming around the streets,” the she said.
Mombasa High Court Judge Erick Ogola supported this saying most children who are in conflict with the law either have no parents or they are just irresponsible.
“Children in conflict with the law either have no parents or have parents who are irresponsible,” Ogola said.
Ogola mentioned irresponsibility of parents being a major challenge saying that even if there is a law to guide on child negligence, the society still needs to take action.
“For example, a parent is charged and convicted for neglecting a child, so what from there? The child still needs to be taken care of and therefore we need a society which appreciates that children need to be taken care of regardless if they have parents or not, so that is a challenge,” he said.
The court deals with the cases by looking for a comfortable place for such children especially those who run away from their homes.
“There are those children who have been arrested after being picked from the streets, abandoned kids, some have run away from their homes, some have no homes, those are brought to the court and we look for a suitable place for them,” Yator said.