Grandmother To Court: “He’s Not Cooperating”
Teenager Taaj Muhammad, who had previously been convicted of mugging another teenager and who had been placed on Probation for that offence, was this morning [May 10] sent to the COED facility for nine months after his Probation Order was revoked.
The Probation Office had brought Muhammad back to Court because his great-grandmother, who had offered her home as his residence and who had promised to supervise him, had told Court Services that Muhammad was not cooperating, was disruptive, and that she and her family members could no longer keep him at her Sandy’s residence.
The Probation Office also told the Senior Magistrate that Court services had enrolled Muhammad in a class at a local technical training institute. However his attendance record showed that of 43 classes, he had been late for 18, had missed another 18, and had only fully attended at 9.
The Probation Officer recommended that Muhammad should now be placed in the care of his grandmother. However, the Senior Magistrate pointed out that Muhammad had been placed in the care of his great-grandmother because neither his grandmother nor his mother offered suitable or acceptable alternatives.
The Magistrate said that this situation highlighted Bermuda’s need for some kind of a facility, short of a prison, where young men could be placed and there receive remedial and corrective training. The Magistrate said that since the dismantling of the old Corrective Training regime, there were no options except prison.
Muhammad’s great-grandmother rose and told the Magistrate that she had been his only caregiver since he was a baby and that she had spent all she had and done all she could and that his mother had contributed nothing.
Saying “I’m going to do my job”, the Senior Magistrate went on: “He has refused to accept interventions that were designed to help him. The only way to help him now is to lock him up.” With that, the Magistrate passed sentence of nine months corrective training.
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lol what a loser
Sounds like that statement could apply to the whole family with the exception of the Great Grandmother.
So the mother and granny were useless and no sign of daddy. What a family.
Corrective training?? Are you serious?
Don’t know the circumstances in relation to the mother and father but both need to be brought before a judge and their freedom taken away for not doing their parts as parents.
Not a product of love but of sexual gratification. Now we have lost souls robbing each other and killing each other who have no love for their fellow brother or neighbour. Mother needs a “SERIOUS CUT AS%!” Letting your great grandmother raise the baby you cannot!? UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!!
This is the Tough Love needed! Silly Boy…It can’t be that difficult, dang you were living for free, eating for free, a Bed to sleep in..Wait till you get into the “Real World” boy you’re really gonna be in trouble.
“The Magistrate said that this situation highlighted Bermuda’s need for some kind of a facility, short of a prison, where young men could be placed and there receive remedial and corrective training.”
You mean like a home with a father who’s present??
Sometimes having a father in the home isn’t the answer either..beacuse they can be “there” but not “there” if you get my meaning…..It’s called CHOICES and he like a lot of our young people CHOOSE to do the wrong thing and it doesn’t matter if they are living in single or two parent homes………
Yeah basically but it’s not the childrens fault. We have no say in who we are born to and the circumstances we are born into. He is clearly unhappy and crying out for help. Most people don’t just act out for no reason, it’s always something, it always stems from something. I’m not making excuses for his bad behavior but most times people who do those things come from bad homes and had terrible childhoods filled with circumstances that made them the way they are today.
God Bless this great grandmother for trying to raise this child the best way she knows how! This is not fair on this great grandmother. Her child rearing days are over. She should be relaxing and enjoying life, instead she is trying to raise her granddaughters child. It’s a shame that these parents are allowed to reproduce and then dump their children on other family members for them to rear their brats. Where is the father of this child? I see no mention of him. Shame shame shame
I applaud the grandmother/great-grandmother who had the courage to stand up to this young man. This more than many actions may help him the most… to set the boundary in terms of his unacceptable behaviour and lawful, proper behaviour.
This story highlights the major gaps in our services for families. Not knowing this young man or his family, it would appear that there are generational problems. The sad thing is that this is not an isolated problem. There are similar families at various stages of dysfunction from one end of the island to the other, and too few helping/training/rehabilitation agencies outside of prison. Efforts over the last few years to weed out agencies that were providing overlapping services were, in my opinion, misguided. Even though we are a fairly small community, with so many families/mothers/children/grand- and great-grandmothers in distress, single agencies cannot handle the volume adequately.
Even sadder is there is no relief in sight. There is no money to be made in mental and emotional health services, especially since those who are most in need are usually least able to pay for the services they receive. Added to that, we have an increasingly callous population that decries such services as “nanny” or “babysitting” services, not recognizing that their lack of empathy is also a part of the problem.
On another note, since we started imprisoning people for debt, minor traffic offenses and child support, prison has lost its fear factor and has become a rite of passage, since such a large proportion of young males have been through its doors. We have created an untenable situation that will eventually implode, probably sooner rather than later.
It still boils down to CHOICES…….no we can’t help who we are born too..however
WE CAN CONTROL the path we take in life…..as a person YOU are in control of your destiny…..
DITTO !! God bless this family !
If the child was not wanted, which is clear from the absence of BOTH the mother and the father in this child’s life, then why was the pregnancy not terminated? Why is abortion not easily available and FREE in Bermuda? This would go a long way to ensuring that a life brought into this world is wanted and loved. PRO-CHOICE!
Free Taaj!!! F$#% the System!!
sounds like the great-grand mother should have put the grand-mother and the mother in corrective training a long time ago….then the grandson wouldn’t be going through this now. At least she’s trying to put an end to the cycle. Bless her heart. she musta had a life of stress. hope the training helps.
free my n%$#@ taaj to dis a message from my hood n my whole crew free my n%$# free my n^%$# free my n^%$#!!!!!!!!
free taaj locked him up for some bs
When was just a boy they had what they the Training School why don’t Bermuda bring something like that back into play. and maybe even open a trade school for kids that don’t books but are good with there hands. The youth in Bermuda are very good with there hand I am sure they are are always into some kind of mischief that involes the hands.
let us pray