This all seemed like fun until a girl I knew lied that I’d raped her and I ended up getting arrested. I was on tag for 9 months and felt so angry that she would do that to me. If I was found guilty I would be spending 7 years in prison for something I didn’t do.

This only made me worse. I was so angry and I didn’t care about anything anymore – not even my own life. All I wanted to do was kill her for what she was putting me through. I even planned how I was going to do it.

Even though I was on tag, I didn’t stick to the curfew and ended up having police at my house nearly every week.

During the court case not one of my friends was around. The only time I saw them was when they were testifying. The only help I got was from my mum who attended a place called the UCKG HelpCentre.

She told me that if I wanted things to change then I should pray – so I did. I was found not guilty but within a few weeks I was back to my old ways.

One Friday, me and my friend planned to go and kidnap a boy because he had money and a new bike. When I was about to go my mum called me and insisted that I meet her at the UCKG. Because I respected her I decided to go. Usually, I would just sit at the back and not pay much attention but this time the message hit home so I decided to change.

I started to attend properly. I stopped smoking and hanging around with the gang friends. I got involved in the Victory Youth Group and changed my mentality.

Today I am a completely different person, I didn’t care about anything except getting revenge on people who had hurt me, but now I see things differently.

Rather than only thinking of the here and now, I think about my future.

Chris Somi