VIOLENT crimes committed by minors are an increasing concern for the police’s family protection unit. Detective Sergeant Sarah-Jane Snowdon said that it worked towards finding the root causes of attacks.

‘There does seem to be an awful lot going on involving children,’ she said.

Recently, seven-year-old Derry Ferbrache, who lives at Les Genats Estate, Cobo, Castel, was allegedly attacked with a jagged piece of glass by a youth.

Police are investigating.

And in response to parents’ fears that officers were powerless to stop young children committing acts of violence, DS Snowdon said all allegations of crime by minors were investigated fully.

‘If officers suspected there were child protection issues with the alleged suspect, or victim, they would refer the case to me,’ she said.

‘If we thought that either the accused or the victim was suffering any sort of abuse that would lead them to inflict violence on another child, we would act.

‘When a crime has been committed, whether they are under the age of responsibility or not, I would want to get to the bottom of why they were behaving in an aggressive way.’

She said there was always an underlying reason why a child would commit a violent crime.

‘We look at every incident and try to get to the root cause of why a child would inflict pain on another,’ she said.

‘We need to look at any offender and see what is going on with them and what is making them behave in that way. What is it that is making them want to hurt another child?’