Man tracks down teenage knifeman who mugged nephew and tries to turn his life around
A kind-hearted man has been inundated with job offers after he tracked down the teenager who mugged his nephew and sought to help him turn his life around.
Heating engineer and charity worker Winston Davis managed to find the 16-year-old about six weeks after the altercation with his 12-year-old nephew, which saw the teenager steal the young boy's bag while he was on his way to buy a chocolate bar.
Davis searched CCTV and doorbell camera footage and spoke to people in the area to establish some names and faces, before eventually bumping into the teenager who matched the description and telling him he knew what he had done.
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"He agreed to come back to give us the bag," Davis said. "The fact that he came back to give us the bag, I was like wow. Yeah you’ve done something really bad to the family I love, but that fact that you brought it back says a lot about you."
Davis recognised there was 'something in [the teenager] that wants to go on and do good', so he decided to try and help him by sharing a video of their interaction online, writing: "Although what he did was completely wrong, he said he was broke and needed the money…
"He’s 16 years old, been in and out of detention centres, lives in a supported living place and has no qualifications…Despite this he wants to work in computer engineering…"
Davis encouraged anyone who might be able to offer information about career routes or training programmes for the boy to get in touch, and as the video went viral the charity worker found himself inundated with offers.
"When it happened the lad that did it was gesturing to the knife on his leg, it was with a knife. but you can see on camera that he hasn't held it to his neck or anything, he just used it as a threat," Davis said. "He told me he’s been in and out of detention centres and had no education and has literally been living in supported living."
The uncle expressed belief the teen was 'at the point at the moment where he can’t see, either the benefit or that he actually needs this help', and said that while he 'can't condone' what he did, he wasn't going to report him to the police.
“He’s got an opportunity to really, if he takes the opportunities that are presented to him, to really change his life," Davis explained. "It’s just, can he see far enough into the future? To be able to take advantage of the good nature and goodwill of so many people?”
Though a few people have argued the boy's clothing in the video are indication he's 'not suffering', Davis said that when he was in front of him it was clear he 'needs help'.
“These young people aren’t even physically and mentally developed and we’re writing them off for society because they do things they shouldn’t do at such a young age. Like no, let’s try to intervene with them, let’s try to help them make changes, and help them take a different path. Because that helps us as a society," he said.
Emily Brown