Catholic priest Fr Anthony deVerteuil, who was the former principal at St Mary’s College has now come out publicly about the bullying incident involving Prime Minister Stuart Young and another student Imran Khan, which occurred some 33 years ago.
During his homily at Living Water Community Chapel, Lenten mass in Port of Spain on Saturday, Fr deVerteuil told the congregation that a great joy he experienced was 33 years ago when he was the principal of St. Mary's College.
“Joy of forgiving. One boy clubbed another one on the head. After investigating, I can say that in the interest of justice and compassion, I did not suspend him. I did not expel him. I did not stop him from doing his exams. I did not punish him in any way.”
“I placed no record of the incident on the files. I was happy to acknowledge him as a St. Mary's College boy in good standing. The joy of being obliged, I can even say to forgive,” the priest said.
However, Fr deVerteuil said 33 years later, in the interest of politics, the incident has been resurrected.
“Once more, I have the happiness of forgiveness. It's in this falsified version of events that those who lied, those who slandered, those who calumniated, those who led into error, persons who were eager to see evil, I forgive you all,” he pointed out in his sermon.
Young has been accused by the relatives of one of his former schoolmates of being a bully, which led to the schoolboy attacking him with a baton in retaliation.
The incident was highlighted in a social post hours after Young was inaugurated as Prime Minister last week and has since gone viral, sparking widespread national debate on the issue.
The Prime Minister has since issued an apology to all victims of bullying.
Credit Citation: Andrea Perez-Sobers GUARDIAN MEDIA
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