Four local primary schoolboys who bullied and verbally abused an elderly woman were taken to a police station for questioning earlier this week, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Ho, the schoolboys study in the same school in Santo António district. Ho did not reveal their exact age, merely saying that the quartet are under 16.
According to Ho, there has recently been an online post circulating on social media about “a gang of children assaulting an elderly person”, which described an incident where an elderly woman was subjected to verbal abuse and bullying by four boys. The police swiftly identified the boys and their parents, as well as the victim, and summoned them to a police station for questioning.
Ho noted that over the past two months, the four boys visited the victim’s workplace near their school at least four times. During the “visits”, they subjected her to verbal abuse using vulgar language and threw eggs and soft drink cans at her. On Monday, they even hit her on the head with a broomstick, causing an injury. After enduring the repeated bullying, the victim confided in her daughter, who made the decision to share the incident on social media.
Under questioning, the boys claimed that the woman had confronted them about loitering and even splashed water on them. However, Ho underlined that there was no evidence supporting such actions by the victim, and that the victim had simply enquired why they were not at home at nighttime, as she was concerned about their wellbeing. Ho added that the boys, feeling annoyed by her enquiries, then decided to take revenge and began to harass the victim regularly.
Ho pointed out that due to their age the four boys cannot be held criminally responsible for their deeds. Macau’s age of criminal responsibility stands at 16, which means that teenagers younger than 16 cannot be charged with a crime. However, they can be ordered by the authorities to undergo mandatory non-correctional counselling.
Ho said that the Judiciary Police have transferred the four schoolboys and their case files to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for follow-up investigation.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam (left) and PJ duty supervisor Cheong Kim Fong look on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: William Chan
This undated pixelated image provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the social media post about the four schoolboys who bullied an elderly woman.
