A NICOSIA judge yesterday warned two juvenile delinquents that they would end up in jail if they came up in court again, slamming the state for having ignored the problem of young offenders for years.
“Cyprus has filled up with young thieves,” judge Nicos Sandis thundered while delivering the sentence for two boys, aged 13 and 14.
The two were given a nine-month sentence, suspended for three years.
The pair were convicted on 32 charges of theft and malicious damages to cars.
Judge Sandis said the two had amassed an impressive record, with over £4,500 stolen and nothing recovered, not to mention damage to the vehicles they had broken into.
The defendant’s lawyers had argued that any jail sentence should be suspended because of the boys’ age.
But the judge stressed the seriousness of the offences, adding that it was a fact that society was flooded with juvenile thieves like the defendants.
“It is not the court’s role to suggest ways to stamp out the phenomenon,” Sandis said.
He said the state has remained inactive for years, refusing to tackle the problem.
The court stressed the need for the creation of detention centres for minors.
“Declarations are not enough,” he said.
He noted the defendants’ very young age, which obliged the court to handle them carefully as the sentence would determine their future.
Sandis said jail would inevitably have been the most suitable sentence under the circumstances.
In considering whether to suspend the sentence, the judge said he had taken into account their age as well as the fact that they both came from problematic families.
“The Central Prison would possibly create further problems,” he said, adding the court would give the boys the opportunity to serve their sentence within society under certain conditions.
“My impression is that they will return to court soon,” Sandis said.
Sandis then turned to the two boys, who stood in the dock looking straight at the bench.
He stressed, in a stern manner, that the boys’ weekend stint in custody was nothing compared to the conditions of jail and warned that they would be looking at more than nine months if they committed an offence inside the next three years.
“Do not appear before a court in the next three years or else you will end up in jail.
“No one will pity you,” Sandis said.
He added: “Personally, I am not moved; it’s due to thieves like you that people are deprived of their property.”
