Four male students of the Campden Park Secondary School were, on Wednesday, brought before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, charged with having engaged in a fight the previous day.
One of the students was further charged that he had in his possession offensive weapons, to wit, a stone and a screwdriver, also at Campden Park.
Three of the students are 16 years old and in Form 4 and the fourth is 15 and in Form 3.
One of them pleaded guilty to the fighting charge while the three others pleaded not guilty.
However, Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett entered a not guilty charge for each of the students, saying that one person cannot engage in a fight.
He granted each of the 16-year-olds EC$500 bail with one surety and released the 15-year-old into the custody of his grandmother.
The students were arrested on Tuesday and spent that night in police custody, before appearing in court in their school uniform, minus their neck ties.
One of the boys, whose parents did not turn up to court for the arraignment, told the court that his mother had visited him at the police station and knew when he was scheduled to appear in court.
“If there is a no-show of the parents—”Burnett said.
“It says a lot,” prosecutor Police Constable Corlene Samuel said, completing the magistrate’s sentence.
The prosecutor told the court that she would consult with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution to determine the course of action that the state would take in the matter.
Two of the students told the court that their school had suspended them for nine days as a result of the fight.
Burnett said that while he was not getting into the management of the school, it was interesting that four students were charged with having engaged in a fight but only two were suspended — because of the fight.
He, however, said that the school might have made that decision based on the findings of their investigation, adding that he was not getting into the dynamics of the matter.
The case was adjourned to Aug. 27
If parents are held accountable, we would see a vast improvement in delinquency.
Are you kidding! They can’t even discipline their children or they could go to jail.
Well all blame parent..have never seen Christian dauthers get pregnant or son get lock up…u can show every good moral to a child growing up..does it.mean when they get to school tey will fellow what u say??I understand that parent who didn’t go court ..if u not hearing there must be a way to feel..
FACTS ! (agree)
MOCKERY OF THE MAGISTRACY
The Magistrate obviously had his ‘…Thinking Cap on.’ Not sure what the prosecutor had on.
If the School authorities lawfully and correctly took ‘…punitive action by suspension,’ why would the police seek to make ‘…Mockery of the Magistracy?’
This was made evident when the prosecutor alerted the adjudicator that she would now consult the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as to the way ‘…forward or backward.’
Wasting the Court’s time.
Reasonable inferences might be drawn that the suspended students may have been the ‘…aggressors’ and the ones the authorities may have concluded, started the fight.
Students fighting! Even without the facts, it can still be called ‘…Bullying,’ because that is what it appeared to have been.
Perfect time for the adjournment ‘…August – on School holidays.’