The mother of a Christ Church Secondary School student is demanding justice for her 14-year-old son who was beaten with a belt by another male student, of the same age and school, while on his way home last Friday.
According to the mother of the victim, the attack took place on UG Road. The attack left the victim with injuries to his nose and chest, requiring medical attention and possible surgery.
Narrating the harrowing ordeal, the mother said that on the day in question her son had been repeatedly flicked behind the ears by the accused prior to the attack. Despite reporting the harassment to a school supervisor, the situation escalated when the assailant confronted the victim after school and viciously attacked him.
“My son came home on Friday. Well, he went at his father’s workplace. He left school, he went to his father’s workplace and his shirt was bloody. So my husband asked him what happened. He said to his dad that his friend’s cousin attacked him and cuff him to his nose, cuff him to his face and beat him, took off his belt and beat him with it. So the father asked ‘what caused that to happen, why he think that he is your father that he can hit you like that?’ And that took place at UG Road … on the line top opposite the Hindu study centre there. So, he went on to tell his dad that he was walking along the corridor, and he felt somebody flick him behind his ears. When he looked back, nobody was there. Then as he continued to walk, he felt another flick. And when he look back he saw this boy, right. He told him ‘I do not like it. Don’t do it’, right. He walked again and the boy flicked him again. So what he did, he decided to go and complain to the level supervisor, Miss Parris. Miss Parris apparently scolded him about flicking [my son] behind his ears and so on,” the mother said.
The assault was captured on video, further highlighting the severity of the violence inflicted on the young student.
“So, when they left school and they walk out at 3:15 and they head to the road head, he came… well it was [my son] and some girls and some other students. And he came running up to catch up with [my son]. So, when he reached out there he start to hit [my son]. Right, he started to beat him, took off his belt beat him and say ‘you, you wuh you say about my mother? Wuh you say about my mother?’ Apparently, one of the other friends told him that [my son] said ‘yuh mother’, right. And that is why he reacted; his friend told him, because we met with the Welfare today and HM and so on. And [my son] was in his right. [My son] told him nothing…,” she went on.
Severity
The young man was later taken to the hospital for treatment, where doctors expressed concerns about the severity of his injuries.
“… the hit, on his nose cause one side of his nose to be blocked. So he may have to undergo surgery… I still have to take him back because I have to take him to the surgeon, I have to take him to get a chest X-ray because he hit him on his chest and probably I might have to take him to get a CT scan,” the mother noted.
She added that before taking their son to the hospital, both her and the father took him to the Sparendaam Police Station to make a report but were informed that because it was a school matter the police could not intervene, but rather it has to be dealt with by the school system. Dissatisfied with this, the mother said she contacted an attorney who informed her that the police are obligated to take a statement once a report is made. The parent said they later visited the Turkeyen Police Station where they were able to file a report.
Yesterday, the parents of both boys met with an official from the Welfare Department along with the Head Teacher of the school.
“The dad and the mom… they try and justify and say ‘they’re children, and long ago we used to fight and so on’. I don’t know what he [the father] is talking about. Because in my time when I was born, it took a village to raise a child and anybody see he doing that nonsense to my son they might probably put my son to do it back to him or he woulda get a good thrashing. So, I don’t know what he’s talking about. But that is how he was justifying it. And I got a problem with that. Because you need to say to your son, there and then, ‘what you did is wrong. The boy did you nothing, he didn’t tell you anything. So why did you attack this child? Right, but you did not hear that’s coming out from them… I said [to them] I do not need your money because we have our own money. But I said I’m gonna file a civil suit. And that money will go towards a foundation for persons that are suffering because of bullyism. I’m not going to sit back and let anybody bully my children,” the angry mother stated.
Professionally
Though she noted that the Headmistress of the school dealt with the matter professionally, the mother criticized the lack of action by ministry authorities and law enforcement in addressing the incident promptly. She emphasized the need for stronger measures to combat bullying and violence in schools, citing previous incidents of students being seriously injured due to similar attacks.
When contacted for a response, both Minister of Education Priya Manickchand and Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain said that they were unaware of the incident with the Christ Church student. The CEO has promised to investigate the matter.
The parent further recounted a similar incident that took place about three years ago that left her nephew seriously injured and incapable of sitting this year’s CSEC examinations. The young man, who was around 13 or 14-years-old at the time and attending Tutorial High, was lashed in the abdomen by another student, resulting in him requiring surgery.
“Now he undergo two surgeries recently. He was hit by a classmate, a boy. I think the boy was a class under him or something in his stomach. That child never catch himself up to now. He nearly died… This year he’s supposed to be writing in CXC, but because of that hit, he cannot write. He will have been out of school for like three years because of that hit”, she recounted.
Meanwhile, another video surfaced on Friday last, depicting two outsiders entering the compound of Queenstown Secondary School and assaulting a student. According to a parent from the school, five students had previously assaulted another student and it was this victim’s father and brother who decided to take matters into their own hands by entering the school and attacking one of the assailants.
“Five Queenstown students hit a classmate. And the father and the brother of the victim took the law into their own hands and went to attack one of the aggressors who started the problem. Now that the HM doesn’t do anything, people [are] beginning to take justice into their own hands,” the parent, a Venezuelan woman told Stabroek News.
This parent also noted that she has removed her daughter from the school following continued incidences of bullying, of which her daughter has been a victim many times.
