According to USA Today, "Officers [in Arizona] responding to a report of hysterical screams found an 8-year-old girl partially clothed and four boys, barely in their teens, running from an empty shed."
"She was brutally sexually assaulted for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes," police Sgt. Andy Hill said.
Now although the boys are way too young to be called paedophiles (they're not even 15 yet) the story still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, due to the fact that rape is hardly something associated with young children.
The boys, ages ranging between 9 and 14, were later taken into custody (that alone sounds weird) and were all charged with sexual assault. The weirdness continues, because the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said that the 14-year-old boy was charged Wednesday as an adult with two counts of sexual assault and kidnapping, and was being held without bond after appearing in court Thursday. He does not yet have a defense lawyer.
It is fair to say that he carried dumbness to a new level, but should he be tried as an adult at 14? Read on.
As said earlier, all four of the boys received charges for sexual assault, and two of them, aged 10 and 13, were charged with kidnapping, the office said Thursday. The fourth boy, a 9 year old, received no additional charges.
What could these boys be watching that could make them commit such a violent crime? At 9, I refuse to believe that he conspired to sexually assault the girl, but surely that young boy should have known by now, what to do, and what NOT to do.
As for the older boys, who most likely led the conspiracy, it must be queried: "What kind of environment were they raised in, and is it dissimilar to that which exists in the average home?" If it isn't, then this case will be joined by many similar ones in the near future.
In my opinion, it is a little easier to correct a child who is led or coerced into a violent, senseless act, but for a young child who is capable of plotting and carrying out such a heinous plan, such as the 14 year old, I see no reformation possible. He deserves to be tried as an adult, and be tagged as a sexual offender. Sounds harsh, but not if you consider that while many boys his age were playing video games, he was out sexually assaulting and ruining a young girl's childhood.
UPDATE: Maybe this incident is not a result of declining morals in the American society after all. CNN reported that "The girl and the boys charged are all from families that have come to the United States from the West African nation of Liberia."
Nonetheless, the story is still a sick one, and as a result, the one thing I won't change my stance on, is that the boys' parents are to blame for failing so miserably to train their children.
The issue has sparked a series of comments from Liberia, where the Liberian president spoke about the sexual assault incident, decrying reports that the parents believe their family has been shamed by the girl.
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