Five South students in court for bomb scare

The five pupils, ages 14 and 15, pleaded not guilty to the charge of sending a message of a menacing nature to the school by telephone. They also pleaded not guilty to the charge of wasteful employment of the police time.

The teenage pupils were accompanied by their parents as they entered the San Fernando Magistrates’ courthouse around mid-morning yesterday. They then appeared before Magistrate Melvin Daniel in the Fourth Magistrates’ Court.

The magistrate read the charge to the five pupils that on Monday, October 17, at Church Street, La Romaine, they sent a message by telephone of a menacing nature to E-999 Command Centre, reporting a bomb at the La Romaine high school. The second charge alleged that on the same date, they caused wasteful employment of police officer Cpl Nyles — who went to investigate a report of a bomb planted at the school.

Daniel ordered the pupils released from police custody on a total of $2,500 to cover both charges which stemmed from police investigations into an incident at the school on Monday at 9.20 am. E-999 Police Command Centre had received a telephone call informing police that a bomb had been planted on the compound of the La Romaine High School.

After investigations, the pupils were taken by police from the school’s compound to the San Fernando Police Station.

Yesterday, attorneys Chateram Sinanan and Frank Seepersad, who represented the accused pupils, requested the magistrate to have the police provide disclosures of statements and telephone records pertaining to the case. Police prosecutor Sgt Wendell Fernando agreed to make the documents available as soon as possible.

Daniel postponed the case to December 14.