Magistrate Nigel Hawke sentenced a juvenile of Blairmont, West Berbice to three years in the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), after he was found guilty of wandering.

Reports are that on February 1, police had taken the boy’s mother and stepfather in to custody on an assault charge and had placed his three younger siblings in the care of persons.

However, when they tried to take him as well he scooted.

The court heard that the child, who does not attend school, was in a habit of running away from home. When asked, he told the magistrate he ran away because he did not have television. The boy’s mother had sent him to an orphanage in New Amsterdam after he was “playing mannish” but he later escaped.

The case was first called at the Blairmont Court on Wednesday but the magistrate was unable to read the charge to him because his mother was not sure if he was indeed 10 and she could not produce any document to verify his age.

Magistrate Hawke had ordered that the child be kept in protective custody for the night until the correct age could be determined.

The Probation Depart-ment was later able to obtain a copy of his clinic card which proved that he would be 12-years-old in March.

Magistrate Hawke had requested “psycho-social intervention” for the boy and his family, acknowledging that the situation was unfortunate and was caused by poverty. He lamented that the decision to send the boy to the NOC was not an easy one but said that under the circumstances he could not be sent back to live in the same situation.

He had told the mother that she needed to play an active role in her children’s lives and also said that the state has failed the child.

Meanwhile other juveniles had been detained for various offences and the magistrate commented that there was a need for a juvenile centre in Berbice.