Court visits scene at Westmoorings

ABOUT 200 students of the International School in Westmoorings were on the premises when shooting erupted on November 20, 2002. This was revealed by principal Barney Latham during a visit of the Inquest Court to the school yesterday. He explained that the elementary school ends at 2.15 pm, while the senior students are released 15 minutes later. On the day of the incident, when 17-year-old Phillip Seerattan was shot dead, Latham said there were about 200 students still on the premises. Some, he added, were waiting for parents to collect them, while there were a large number in the gymnasium.

Altogether, there were 245 students enrolled at the school at the time of the incident. It is rare for  an inquest court to visit the scene where someone has died. Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, presiding as Coroner, led the “court” to see what happened on that fateful day. At the centre of the 35-minute visit was Latham, Principal of the International School since July 2000. Latham pointed out to the court, the procedure relating to visitors to his school. However, he expressed his concern at the media coming onto the premises to film what he called the “security areas.” The attorneys in the case had no problems with the media being there when asked by coroner Mc Nicolls. In the end, photographers were kept outside, while reporters were allowed to go on the tour where the shootings occurred. But the Coroner found out yesterday that the room where Seerattan was shot has been renovated.