Dad of injured CIC student promises legal action

The father of one the St Mary’s college students who were badly beaten in an alleged attack on Tuesday afternoon by a group of students reported to be from Tranquillity Government Secondary school, is calling on the Ministry of Education to thoroughly investigate the matter. Failure to do so, he says, will result in legal action.

Gerard Perez said his son, Khafra, a Form four student of St Mary’s, was on his way to lessons when the incident occurred. He said his son, who remained at home yesterday nursing wounds from the incident, was very traumatised. His son, he said, suffered a blow to the head and back from one of the students. Perez, who met with the Principal of St Mary’s College yesterday, said he was informed that measures have been implemented to safeguard the children.  However he insisted he is still not going to let the matter rest. He says the school has several names of Tranquillity Government students who were reportedly involved in the attack, and promised to pursue the matter. “It must go through the legal channels,” he insisted.

A student of St Mary’s College who witnessed Tuesday’s incident, said it lasted for over 45 minutes. He said it occurred in the vicinity of Lord Harris Square. According to the student, it was about 2:30 pm when everything started. School children from St Mary’s College and St Joseph’s Convent were in the area. Many were waiting for their parents, others were making their way home. It was while children were waiting, he said, he saw children in Tranquillity Government Secondary School uniform walking down the road. “It was a large group — 30, maybe 40 students, both boys and girls.” “All of a sudden,” said the St Mary’s college student, “ I saw about eight of the Tranquillity fellas surround this guy (Khafra Perez) who is in Form Four. Everybody was staring, and then all of a sudden, I saw one of the Tranquillity boys hit Khafra in his head with a base ball bat.” According to the still frightened student, it was at this point, things went down hill. The students from Tranquillity were all over the place, some pelting bottles and stones at the St Mary’s students. “One of then even had an ice pick, and tried to stab one of us, but that guy got away. One other student from our school even got hit on his leg with a piece of wood from another Tranquillity student. Girls of Tranquillity also approached Convent Girls,” he added.

Asked whether the school’s security guards intervened, the student said he could not recall whether they had come to help or not. “Everything was a mess.” The student said, “one of the boys from my school was also hit on the head with a bottle by students from the other school,” he added. By this time most of the students from both St Mary’s and St Joseph’s convent had scampered to safety. The Dean from St Mary’s called all of their students in and locked the gates, while the students from Tranquillity Government school harassed them and went on throwing bottles and stones at the teachers and students who looked on. The eyewitness to the attack also informed Newsday that the son of Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs attends their school, and he usually has two security guards pick him up on an afternoon. They intervened, he said, and held two of the attackers from Tranquillity. One is said to have escaped, and the student could not say for sure what the guards did with the other one who was being held in the guard booth of their school.

The principal of St Mary’s College, Fr Ronald Mendes, could not be contacted yesterday for comment. However, Newsday has been reliably informed that the issue was addressed in their morning assembly yesterday. According to sources, their Principal is very disturbed by the incident, and has implemented strict measures to ensure the safety of the children attending St Mary’s College. Starting yesterday, the students have been asked to leave the school via the Frederick Street exit, and not the Pembroke Street entrance as accustomed. Also, students waiting for their parents to pick them up now have to wait on the school’s compound, and not along the streets. And for those who have to travel home, they will now be escorted to their respective places of transport, where someone will wait until each student gets into their taxi. Police officers will also be stationed near the school on afternoons, to ensure that incidents such as Tuesday’s do not occur. Contacted yesterday for comment, Communications Officer at the Ministry of Education, Mervyn Critchlow said they are still in the process of investigating the matter.