TOBAGO TEACHER STABBED TO DEATH

EVELYN JAMES, 47, was a dedicated teacher. She was planning to go to the Police about a man who had reportedly sexually assaulted one of her students.

She never got the chance.She suffered a martyr’s death yesterday morning on the school compound at the hands of one of her former students who went to the Montgomery Primary School at Bethel where she taught Standard 4, called her out of the classroom, argued with her and stabbed her a fatal blow in the chest. Her last words were: “Why did you stab me?” She then collapsed, bleeding profusely.
With teachers and some children reacting in horror, Ms James was rushed to the Scarborough General Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

A man said to be 38 years old gave himself up to a Police officer and was taken into custody. He was due to be charged last night and should appear in the Scarborough Court this morning.
According to reports James had been a teacher for more than 25 years and was the mother of two daughters and two grandchildren.
Her death was mourned yesterday not only by colleagues and students but by the Minister of Education, Hazel Manning who was in Tobago on official business, Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, Dr Orville London and the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association of which she was a founding member and active leader.
One young student who witnessed the entire incident will need at least six months of therapy to overcome the trauma, officials said.

Police reports said that the assailant had reportedly sexually assaulted a student of the school, who complained to James. James informed the student’s parents, who in turn confronted the man. According to the police, Ms James was threatening to take the matter to the police.
Eyewitnesses said that the man entered the school at about 8.15 am and confronted James about her role in the allegations. They said the two spoke for about five minutes, before the assailant pulled out a knife. James attempted to escape but fell down a staircase near the principal’s office, where she was stabbed in her chest.

According to one eyewitness, James got up and asked the man: “Why did you stab me?”  He replied: “I am just waiting for the police to come and get me now”. The teacher then collapsed at the bottom of the stairs and remained there bleeding before she was rushed off to hospital by an ambulance. Police recovered a knife.
The man, who was taught by James several years ago, then allegedly walked calmly out of the school and across a savannah where he went to the home of a retired Senior Supt and gave himself up.
School principal, Enid Smart said that the incident took place while the students of the school were in the assembly hall so fortunately few of the students and teachers witnessed the event. She was visibly traumatised and would only say that she was extremely hurt by the incident.

The students were sent home immediately but a large crowd had gathered outside the gates while almost two dozen police officers conducted enquiries inside. Several teachers had gathered in a nearby room and held a tearful prayer-vigil. Father Colin Sampson, parish priest of the Anglican St Patrick District, visited the school and held prayers for the distraught staff members.
Snr Supt in charge of Tobago, Richard Fredericks, headed the list of officers who visited the scene, which included ASP Crooks, Insp Broomes, Insp Dillon and Cpl Roberts, from the Scarborough CID and Old Grange Police Station.
 Leader of the Independent Senators, Dr Eastlyn McKenzie and Chief Secretary Orville London went to the school and met privately with the principal, who is Dr McKenzie’s sister.
London told the media that he heard of the incident while attending the opening of the Castara Primary School, which was also being attended by Education Minister, Hazel Manning.

London said he offered condolences to the teachers and the principal. He told the media that he knew James to be a “very dynamic person” that her death would be a tremendous loss to the society.
He said he worked with her as a fellow member of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA) and that she was “always very aggressive in the pursuit of what she believes.”
He said that he had instructed his Social Services Department to conduct counselling sessions with the teachers and students from 8.30 am to 11 am today, which he would also attend.

Later yesterday afternoon, Manning officially opened the Buccoo Government Primary School, which is only a stone’s throw away from the Bethel school. A moment’s silence was observed by the audience in memory of the slain teacher. Manning said that she was “very shocked” at the incident and that it was the first time that something like that had happened in Tobago. She said the Ministry was awaiting the investigations from the police on the matter.
Cpl Roberts is continuing investigations.