Children now being lured by organised criminal gangs

Kisumu County Director of Children Affairs Charles Ondogo speaks during an interview in his office in Kisumu. [PHOTO: RUSHDIE OUDIA/Standard]

Chilling details of how children are being lured into organised criminal activities in Kisumu can be revealed.

Experts and children’s department cite poverty and lack of close parental care as the main reasons pushing children into criminal activities.

Organised gangs use the delinquents to perpetrate criminal offences like gaining access to houses whose owners are away.

Records at Kisumu Children Remand home clearly illustrate the magnitude of the problem where 82 children are incarcerated, some facing serious criminal charges like murder, robbery with violence, stock theft, burglary and even defilement.

Kisumu County Director of Children Affairs Charles Ondogo said most of the delinquents are charged with murder, robbery with violence, theft and break-ins.

At the remand, three children are being held for stealing, two for robbery with violence and one for handling stolen property, break-ins and stock theft.

One is being held for murder, one for causing grievous harm, two for attempted arson while seven are held for defilement.

He said that cases of children being used to commit crime are rampant.

In some instances, he said, the children are used to traffic drugs, illicit brews and even child prostitution.

“Some children are used at night to gain access to premises so that they open the door from inside,” said Mr Ondogo.

He blamed many of the cases on biting poverty since many children are breadwinners in families that have been orphaned by HIV and Aids.

Ondogo said there is a possibility some of the children also stay with grandparents and guardians who do not monitor their movements at night.

Last week, four children aged between seven and 10 were arrested by police in Kenya Re Estate after they were caught trying to break into a residential house. They were later held at Migosi Police Post before being taken round the estate to identify houses that they had broken into in the past.

The four children, all girls, were spotted by the owner of the house leaving hurriedly with clothes and towels. The children then dropped them and fled only to be arrested by residents and handed over to the police.

The children were easily identified by many residents of Migosi Ward. One as a pupil at a primary school within the ward.

According to a resident, George Omondi, the door to the house where the children had broken into had its padlock cut, begging the question how children could do that.

The most affected areas are Kenya-Re, Migosi, Lolwe, Mamboleo, Arina and Manyatta estates where the children are squeezed in between window grills to grab portable things like mobile phones, wallets, tablets and laptops.

The children are said to appear in neighbourhoods looking for playmates and once they gain the trust of their peers, they gain access to the houses where they take concealable items.

When the story broke on social media, a parent revealed that unknown people had even tried to recruit her children to do the same and threatened to kill them if they did not agree. This forced her to change estates.

A parent to one of the children is said to have confessed that her child is involved in crime, an indication that parents are accomplices.

Kisumu Central OCPD Christopher Mshimba said so far he has not received any reports of people accusing children of theft in their houses.