A 15-year-old student of Fyzabad Secondary School is having medical treatment after he was repeatedly punched by a schoolmate who wore a brass knuckle, covered his face with a mask and wore gloves.
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His mother is now seeking legal redress and a transfer, as she said three weeks after this incident, the bully is still at school, while her son is missing classes, and neither the police nor the Ministry of Education has acted in their interest.
Instead of going to school on Monday, the Form Three student spent the day at the Point Fortin Hospital (PFH) having treatment and a CT scan to unveil what injuries he may have suffered in the unprovoked attack which took place on September 27, just outside the school grounds.
The brutal beating was captured by the camera of a private enterprise. The footage has been in the hands of the police since September 30.
It shows the mask-wearing attacker running up behind his potential victim, pouncing on him, and raining blows on part of his neck and head.
The victim, who lives in Point Fortin, was walking towards a nearby bakery after school, to get a bite to eat while waiting for his regular maxi taxi to take him home.
The child fell to the ground, then got up as the assailant ran off. Dazed, and having trouble breathing, the child managed to walk back to the school.
His mother told the Newsday in an October 14 interview the school said it was unable to reach her by cellphone. Her son was put in the care of his maxi-taxi driver, who arrived and took him to the nearby Fyzabad Health Centre, where he was given oxygen and treated.
He was later taken by ambulance to the PFH, where he was further treated and had an X-ray done and given a neck brace.
Almost three weeks later, his mother said, he is still in excruciating pain and has not been to school since. She is afraid there may be long-term consequences.
She said on Monday morning he woke up in tears from the throbbing pain in his head, but she had to delay taking him to the hospital, as she was called into a meeting with school officials, the community police, her son’s attacker and his parents.
“That turned out to be an exercise in futility, because when the mother of the child was shown the video on a laptop, she said she could not identify him. She was not remorseful or apologetic for what her son had done.
"The community police officer said she could do nothing because I had already reported it to the regular police.
" Initially, the school told me that there was nothing they could do because it happened outside of the school’s compound.”
She said she argued that it happened just after school, just outside, and both victim and attacker were wearing school uniform, but that did nothing to change their position.
“I just trip and told them off and left, because they offered no solutions. If they knew they could do nothing, why did they make me leave my home in Point Fortin to come to Fyzabad on Monday while my son was going through his distress?”
The aggrieved mother said although bullying had been in the spotlight since the suicide of St Stephen's College student Jayden Lalchan, her reports were never taken seriously and she wondered if the authorities were waiting for another attack or for something to happen to her son before they acted.
She reported what had happened from the time of the incident.
“It’s going on three weeks since this happened and I reported it.
"I went to the business place to get a copy of the video, but they did not want to give it to me because minors were involved. They said they were only willing to give it to the police.
"I went back to the Fyzabad police station and told the police officer he had to go for it.
“I spoke to the businessman that night: he said the police did not contact him.
"I called back the station and the officer asked for a contact for the man with the video so he could e-mail it to him. Now, mind you, the police station is located less than five minutes away from where the incident happened.
“I passed on the message, but the officer never called to say if he got it.
I called the station (during the first week in October) on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: the officer was not there. I got him on the Thursday. He said he called the school, but they were not helpful.
“On October 4, I went to the Ministry of Education, Victoria Division, to make a report. I was told the person handling that was not there and would not return until the following week. I was given a sheet of paper to write an account of what happened and leave it. I did that.
"To date I have not heard from the Ministry.
“On October 15, the Fyzabad police has asked me to bring my son so they could take a report from him. Imagine that, after three weeks.”
She said as far as she knows, the aggressor, also a Form Three student, is a school bully who is always picking on other children.
“He was also calling my son names and stuff. One day before the incident, my son was in class. I am told there is a hole or a space between the two Form Three classes. During classes, while the teacher was teaching, the boy pushed himself (through) the space and started harassing my son. My son drew it to the attention of the teacher. The teacher spoke to the disruptive student, who steupsed at her. The teacher then took him to the principal’s office.
"I don’t know what happened in the principal’s office, but this boy clearly planned to seek revenge on my son.It was premeditated, because he walked with gloves, mask and brass knuckles to launch his attack. What manner of child would do that?”
She said her son is afriad to go back to school, as the student who attacked him has not been suspended.
When Newsday first spoke to Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly about this matter last week, she said in a WhatsApp message, “I think the media needs to be careful of these allegations and avoid sensationalisation without proof.”
She agreed some parents were not taking responsibility for their children, and some were “slipping through the cracks”.
The heads of the police Southern and Southwestern Division could not be reached for comment.
ACP Wayne Myster, head of the Southern Division, told Newsday last week the police were embarking on a national anti-bullying campaign which should be launched by the end of the month.
Political leader of the Patriotic Front Mickela Panday said these issues have been ignored and swept aside as if they were minor inconveniences for too long and the rising tide of violence was becoming impossible to overlook.
“How many more students must suffer before the system intervenes? The time for complacency is over. We need decisive action now to protect our youth, or we will all bear the responsibility for the consequences.”
