The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A MOTHER has condemned the public humiliation of her nine-year-old son after videos of him stealing a bicycle and subsequently being hung from a fence circulated on social media, saying he deserved discipline but should not have been treated that way.

Charliece Saunders, a single mother of eight, said she has disciplined her son over the theft but believes he is being influenced by older boys whose company she has repeatedly tried to keep him out of.

“They never should have hung him on the fence,” Ms Saunders said. “They should have brought him to me and let me know what he did instead of hanging him on the fence and recording it and posting it like it's a joke.”

The incident began on Monday when a video showed a man riding his bicycle to a corner store, parking it outside and entering the establishment.

Several boys were gathered nearby on bicycles. The nine-year-old was seen sitting on the handlebars of another boy's bicycle before getting off and waiting for the man to enter the store.

He then walked over, took the unattended bicycle and rode away with some of the other boys.

A second video, titled “Culprit caught”, showed the group being confronted by a man who was recording them and demanding to know who had stolen the bicycle.

The other boys pointed towards the nine-year-old, identifying him as the person responsible. One boy smiled and shouted while pointing at him.

The man then grabbed the child by the arm and told him he was getting “locked up”.

Another video showed the boy hanging from a fence by his shirt, crying as the person recording questioned who had placed him there.

The footage prompted debate online, with some people arguing that the boy needed to face consequences for stealing, while others condemned the decision to hang him from a fence and record his distress.

Ms Saunders said she was working at a fast-food restaurant when the father of one of her children called to inform her that her son had stolen a bicycle.

Because employees are prohibited from using mobile phones during working hours, she said she did not see the footage until she returned home.

She was also unaware of the video showing her son on the fence. Although he had returned home after the incident, he had not told her what happened.

Ms Saunders said she did not excuse her son's behaviour and acknowledged that he had previously been involved in stealing a man's motorbike with the same group of boys.

She said she has repeatedly warned him against associating with them, but they continue coming to her neighbourhood looking for him even when she forbids him from going out.

She believes the other boys take advantage of his age and willingness to follow their lead.

“I can see on the video they persuading him to move the bike. But then now it's only him on social media but it was a lot of them together when it happened,” she said.

Ms Saunders said she has tried to provide for her children despite the difficulties of raising eight of them as a single mother. She credited relatives with helping her and said her son's behaviour did not reflect a lack of care or attention at home.

“I just want the public to know I'm not a bad mother,” she said. “Anything my children want they get, but he’s just easy to be persuaded.”

The incident attracted further attention on Thursday when another video showed a man giving the boy a bicycle on his ninth birthday.

He was at home with his grandmother and uncle when the gift was presented. Ms Saunders said she was again at work when the recording was made.

The gesture divided opinion online. Some criticised the decision to give a bicycle to a child who had recently stolen one, while others argued that he had already faced sufficient consequences.

Ms Saunders questioned why the gift needed to be filmed and shared publicly, saying she would have preferred that anyone wishing to help her son do so without posting the encounter online.

She said she has since punished the boy by prohibiting him from going outside and does not intend to allow him to ride the new bicycle for now.