Police in Dominica and Antigua cited legal instances to prosecuting Jahhym Azoo’s attackers. Police arrested the five teenagers who attacked and almost killed Azoo after robbing him of his mobile phone and Adidas slippers. It took a team of doctors to operate on Azoo’s brain and face to save him. Police spokesman in St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda, Frankie Thomas, as well as Acting Police Commissioner, Atley Rodney (a Dominican), said there are legal hurdles to prosecuting the attackers.
The parliament in 2015 established the Child Justice Board which regulated how child offenders should be prosecuted. Two of the five attackers were charged with wounding with intent to murder. The offence falls under the Schedule III of the Child Justice Act of 2015. All the offenders are below the age of 18.
The two are in custody but they are eligible for bail at the High Court. If the offence had been classified under Schedule I or II, the Child Justice Board would have been empowered to accept their bail and release them to a safe house, but Antigua and Barbuda does not keep safe houses.
“We are speaking not only to the officers that are dealing with it, but also to the other stakeholders when it comes to juvenile matters, so the other agencies are involved and we are trying to bring some solution to this problem,” said Acting Police Commissioner Atley Rodney.
Rodney went on to disclose that it is wrong for the media to classify the attack on Azoo as mugging or robbery, saying the young lad got into a fight with his attackers and the fracas got out of hand. Meanwhile, hundreds of people in Antigua and Dominica continue to protest and carry placards calling for the prosecution of Azoo’s assailants. Azoo’s mother also continues to beg people with further information on what happened to her son to come forward.
Azoo is no longer in immediate danger and has been moved out of ICU into a ward at the Mount St. John’s Medical Centre in Antigua where police said that he is recuperating fast and even talking. He was attacked at Grays Farm one late evening early last week.
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