Police probe electronic crime allegation by 15-year-old victim; this as government seeks new ways to curb youth violence

The police are probing an alleged electronic crime which was committed against a teenager who has reportedly received threats via his Instagram account. 

Allegations are that the mother of the 15-year-old Clare Hall Secondary School student reported to the police that on April 17 her son received several messages via Instagram from another Instagram account. 

That person, using a pseudonym, threatened to chop up the 15-year-old boy.

The police have reportedly received certain information from the teen which they are using to assist with the investigations.

The incidences of youth violence have been a cause for concern with a number of persons and groups, including teachers calling for the government to pay urgent care to the persistent problem. 

Meanwhile, it was just on Wednesday (April 19) that the Cabinet during its weekly sitting invited a former colonel of the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) to address it on reducing youth violence across Antigua and Barbuda.

The former soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Walker, wrote a dissertation on the subject 17 years ago – in 2005.

Reportedly, his proposal was essentially to create a voluntary National Service Corps comprising youth, particularly troubled youth between the ages of 15 to 21 years, who would become members of the National Youth Service and would be taught by ABDF personnel whose objective would be to help reform them.

The Cabinet has reportedly asked that Colonel Walker re-formulate the thesis to match the evolving challenge being faced by parents, teachers and schools. 

It was noted that the Office of the Attorney General would, in the meantime, draft legislation to match the objective.

However, government spokesperson Lionel “Max” Hurst says that the programme will be voluntary unless mandated by a court of law.