http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story ... ml?ref=rss
I saw this on the news the other day, and thought I'd post it up. There has been a rash of arsons in Winnipeg and the ages of those involved is quite shocking to the general public and the police. Kids as young as 5 have been arrested for setting fires in houses and dumpsters all over the north end and in the inner city. A 6 yr. old was picked up with his 7 yr old friend, by police
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on the property of the fire-ravaged house. Police said they were trying to start another fire, this time to the garage.
The previous day these two along with another child, aged nine, had set fire to the house, and caused $170 000 damage. Having driven throught this neighbourhood, with windows up and doors locked, I have to wonder what house in that area could be worth that much, as the place is a slum and responsible for the majority of crime stats in Winnipeg, for obvious reasons. These kids went back a second time to start another fire, who knows what other damage or injuries could they have caused if they hadn't been apprehended.
Now the boy's mother, a single mother of four, claims
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peer pressure is behind her son's firebug behaviour.
She stated:
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The day the fire happened, Patricia said, she knew her two boys were playing in the yard of their former home.
"I was walking by there, and I seen them playing there," she said. Later, a neighbour told her the house was on fire.
Now this is a six year old playing unsupervised a block from home in an area that is infamous for drug dealing and shootings.
Now the mother's response to what others perceive as parental failure is:
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"I get all these calls saying, 'Why aren't you watching your boys?' I'm trying my best. I can't be running around with my twins and chasing my boys around at the same time," she said.
"I've run into a few people and they say, 'Don't you think you should be charged for your kid's actions?' And I says, well, I'm at home with my twins right now. I'm a single parent of four children. I can't be with them 24/7."
Uhhhhh yes you can. You're on social assistance, you have nothing else to do, and from the video shown from inside their house, housework isn't high on her list of priorities either. Maybe she should keep her legs closed for awhile too.
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So far this year, police have apprehended 70 minors suspected of arson. Twenty-four were under age 12, including a 10-year-old boy who was implicated in more than 30 fires, and a five-year-old who is believed to have ignited a fire Thursday in a house on Logan Avenue.
