Jason Azzopardi Warns About Serious Stabbing Case, Says Age of Criminal Responsibility Should Be Lowered

Jason Azzopardi called for the law to be updated to allow children under 14 to be held criminally responsible.

Azzopardi posted a message he said he received from the parent of a girl who was recently stabbed by a group of teenagers near her home.

The parent said their daughter didn’t go to school because of bullying, but the bullies still caught her walking down the street last Saturday.

“Five people, three teenage girls and two teenage boys, came out of an alley wearing hoodies. Three of them held him down while the other two punched him. They hit his head against the wall and stabbed him; “Luckily the cuts weren’t deep, but they did leave a few scars.”

“The girl stumbled a little and fell unconscious. “People called and an ambulance and a lot of police arrived to look for the attackers.”

The parent said his daughter’s school, Kirkop public school, was lenient in the case and allowed one of the bullies to wander around the school with a knife.

“Not only does it sadden me to say that school bullying is not taken seriously, but as the mother of a girl who has been bullied since secondary school and is still being bullied in 11th grade, there is no way I would trust her to go to school. .”

“He will remain locked at home until he is caught. It saddens me to say that education is deteriorating and the law must change to allow the detention of 13-year-olds.”

“So it’s okay for them to beat kids and walk around with knives at school, but if they hurt someone we can’t do anything because they’re under 14.”

“By the way, my daughter is in the hospital with a concussion and thank God it wasn’t worse.”

In its current form, the law sets the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 14; This means that no one younger than that can be charged with a crime, although it does allow their parents or guardians to be held responsible.

Azzopardi said the government changed the law in 2014 because it wanted to appear “cool and progressive” and that it was time to change the law again.

Should Malta lower the age of criminal liability?