'This makes me very sad': Ontario auto theft victim believes a child was involved

Dalubuhle Sibanda, shown in a neighbourhood in Windsor, Ont.'s west end, says her car was stolen earlier this month. She believes a child as young as 10 may have been involved, and submitted video evidence to police. (Dalson Chen/CBC)Social SharingWest Windsor resident Dalubuhle Sibanda says she didn't want to believe it when she saw it on home surveillance video: That a preteen boy was likely involved in the theft of her family's vehicle.

"This makes me very sad. It also makes me feel very angry, because I don't want that for any child," said Sibanda, who noticed the boy when she reviewed camera footage after her car was stolen.

"To get involved, at such a young and tender age, in serious crime like this... It's shocking and it's very frightening."

The crime in the southwestern Ontario city happened on the evening of Sept. 14. Sibanda said it began with the young boy — she estimates around 10 years old — approaching and befriending her three children as they played in their home's front yard.

The boy joined the other kids for several minutes, bouncing a basketball and sitting on the porch of the residence.

Then the surveillance camera recorded the boy lingering around the front door. At a carefully chosen moment, the boy slipped inside the house. CBC has viewed the surveillance camera footage from Sibanda's home.

Sibanda thinks that's when he took the car keys, which were hanging on a peg near the door. Minutes later, a surveillance camera at the back of the home recorded the boy running away.

Sibanda said she and her husband didn't realize the keys were missing for hours, and they thought, at first, that they had simply been misplaced.

But later that night, a neighbour's surveillance camera recorded a group of male youths approaching and observing Sibanda's home.

"I believe that [the boy] took our car keys and gave them to someone else, and that person is the one who stole our car," Sibanda said.

Sibanda reported the theft to police and submitted her video evidence.

The Windsor Police Service has confirmed to CBC Windsor it is investigating, but did not confirm the details Sibanda shared with CBC.

Sibanda said that since the incident, she has spoken to neighbours who also had their cars stolen — and they have similar stories about how it happened.

"Our car is the third car that was taken in the space of two weeks."

Yetunde Oloye, who's also a west end resident, said her car was stolen at the start of the month, although later recovered. She also believes the culprits were children — specifically, two boys she discovered inside the doorway of her home on Sept. 1.

She estimates they were 12 or 13 years old.

"This is very, very bad behaviour. It's not right. The government needs to find something to do about it."

Oloye said she knows one of the boys lives in her neighbourhood. She questions why action hasn't been taken against him.

"The police said, 'He's a minor.' Minor for what? That's a criminal to me," she said.

"Maybe they should jail their parents. They are not training their children very well. So the parents should be in jail by now."

West Windsor resident Yetunde Oloye says her car was stolen at the start of the month and later recovered. She also believes the culprits were children. (Dalson Chen/CBC News)At a recent meeting of the Windsor Police Services board, Deputy Chief Kenneth Cribley pointed to a statistical increase in youth crime in the city — not only in terms of the number of incidents, but in the severity of the offences.

Earlier this month, Windsor police arrested and charged two boys — ages 12 and 13 — in connection with multiple vehicle thefts and attempted thefts that occurred in July and August.

The two face a total of 48 charges.

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Joanna Conrad, executive director of Essex County Youth Diversion, said her organization has also been seeing a disturbing trend this year: an increase in referrals from Windsor police for children from six to 11 years old.

"And every year, it seems to be getting more and more," Conrad said. "We're seeing younger children more often, and young children engaging in severe activities."

Joanna Conrad, executive director of Essex County Youth Diversion, says, 'We're seeing younger children more often, and young children engaging in severe activities.' (CBC News)Essex County Youth Diversion deals with individuals ages six to 26. Its youth justice program is meant to act as early intervention, using extrajudicial measures or sanctions to change behaviour and foster accountability.

Conrad noted that the Criminal Code of Canada states no one under age 12 can be convicted of an offence.

"When I think of a child that's engaging in that type of behaviour, my immediate reaction is, 'Where is he learning this from?' That is learned behaviour, and it is something he clearly has been educated on," Conrad said.

"This information on how to behave, how to manipulate people — how is he learning those mechanisms?"

As of Tuesday, Sibanda said, her family's car still hasn't been recovered — but she said she has seen the vehicle being driven around the west end, with masked male youths inside.

She finds it frustrating and disturbing not only as a resident and a vehicle owner, but as a parent of young children herself.

"I know [my children] didn't expect that this would happen," Sibanda said. "They were just playing innocently, having their guard down.

"And now, it means that every day, they need to put up their guard, whoever they speak to — even children... It takes that innocence from their childhood."

Dalson Chen is a video journalist at CBC Windsor. He is a graduate of the University of Guelph and Ryerson University (Toronto Metropolitan University). His past areas of coverage have included arts, crime, courts, municipal affairs, and human interest. He can be reached via dalson.chen@cbc.ca.