A 12-year-old Nanaimo boy was charged with armed robbery on Wednesday after two years of run-ins with the law.
The boy was bicycling near Nanaimo's Port Place on Tuesday morning with a 20-year-old man when they approached another man, 21, who was getting out of a vehicle, Nanaimo RCMP said. The youth allegedly pulled a handgun on the man and demanded his cellphone and other items.
The victim, who was not injured, ran away and called 911, the RCMP said. Later that day, police arrested the 12-year-old, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The gun turned out to be fake and was probably from a toy store, said RCMP Sergeant Sheryl Armstrong.
"We can't tell from a distance or even up close until we have it in hand whether it is real or phony," she said. "What if it was somebody else who was armed? The consequences could have been extremely dire."
The robbery is just the latest in a two-year spree of 100 troubling police incidents involving the 12-year-old.
"The other frustrating part of it from a police perspective is that somewhere around the age of 10 we were dealing with this individual and there's nothing we can do. You have to wait until he turns 12 until he can be charged," Sgt. Armstrong said.
Because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, she could not say whether any of the other incidents led to criminal charges. She did say that generally criminal behaviour gets worse over time. "You start shoplifting, then beatings, and then you move up," she said.
The boy's mother, a single parent, is "very concerned" and has been trying to get help for her son, Sgt. Armstrong said.
"We need to stress that mom has been very concerned about this young boy and has been doing everything she can.… but there's not a lot of programs out there for young youth."
The boy will remain in jail at least until an appearance in Nanaimo Provincial Court on Thursday morning. The police are still investigating whether the 20-year-old man was involved in the robbery.
Youth delinquency can have its roots in a number of issues including substance abuse, family conflict and anger management according to Ray Corrado, a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University.
"While it's rare, this type of criminal behaviour is just part of a larger syndrome of problems that the youth has," Prof. Corrado said.
Now that the boy has been charged, the Ministry of Children and Family Development can provide the intervention necessary to prevent a lifetime of criminality, Prof. Corrado said, adding that is it very unlikely the boy will end up in custody. There's a better chance that he will reformed, he said.
"An overwhelming number of these kids, 95 to 98 per cent… can be helped."