Lo Speaks Out Against Carjacking

Alliance South Belfast MLA Anna Lo has spoken out against the recent spate of car hijackings.

Her comments were made during an Assembly debate on the issue. Anna was the victim of an attempted car hijacking two weeks ago near her constituency office.

Anna Lo MLA said: "The issue of car hijacking crime has been something I have been concerned with for some time now and just a few weeks ago I met with a constituent whose car had been hijacked and subsequently, burnt out.

"I was then myself the victim of an attempted car hijacking. I would like to thank all of the people who have been in contact to offer their support to me and the Police for their swift response.

"We have a section of our young people here in Northern Ireland who are perhaps not in education, employment, or training and have become disenfranchised with our society. They feel excluded and not having a stake in our society. Over the weekend, Breidge Gadd, the former chief probation officer, spoke about the successful response some years ago to joyriding in West Belfast. The probation service worked in partnership with local community groups and other statutory agencies to identify known joy-riders and approached both the young people and those close to them to encourage them to take part in an intensive programme which was created to enable them to move away from drink and drugs and address their social exclusion and life in and out of prison. Independent research has shown that the majority of young people within this scheme did change the direction of their lives. Perhaps it is time to revamp a scheme such as this to stop this new wave of car hijacking."

(CD/GK)