The mother of the 16-year-old boy who was attacked and beaten by a group of students of Carapichaima East Secondary School on Monday is removing him from the school.
At a news conference hosted by the Concerned Parents’ Movement at Jenny’s on the Boulevard, Port-of-Spain, on Friday, Vidya Lal also called for her son’s attackers to be held accountable for their actions because he is badly injured.
“All I want right now is justice for my son. Right now, my son in a lot of pain, his ribs, the back of his ear, his head, and nobody saying or doing anything for my child,” she cried.
Lal thanked maxi taxi driver Varindra Singh for intervening, saying without his help, her son Rasheed may not have survived the attack.
“My son would have been dead because my son is 16 years and he’s (Singh) an adult and the way how they beat him, it would have been my child... so, he blocked from all the licks for my child and right now he is suffering badly,” she said.
She said her son also now feels responsible for Singh’s suffering.
“Every day he go, he say mommy he carrying two Ensure for him because he can’t eat and he say mommy he feels is his fault, he crying for me and saying it’s his fault,” she said.
According to reports, on Monday Singh was waiting for students outside Carapichaima East Secondary when a group of students entered his vehicle and pulled Rasheed out. His mother said they told her son they (students from Carapichaima East and West) had come on behalf of someone’s cousin.
Earlier in the day at Rasheed’s school, Carapichaima West, he and another student got into an altercation as he tried to defend a female student, his mother said.
“He cuff, hit my son two cuff in his face and vice versa, my son hit him two cuff in his face,” Lal said.
The female student also had a disagreement with another girl at the school and it’s believed that she was the cousin Rasheed’s attacker alluded to.
“Between six or seven of them went in the van and grab my son and pull him out if the van. This was very unfair because this wasn’t one on one it was a gang, they didn’t want to beat my child, they wanted to kill my child,” Lal said.
Rasheed is a citizen of the United States and Lal said she reported it to the US Embassy because she’s not confident her son will get justice locally.
Acting Senior Superintendent of the Central Division Michael Pierre told Guardian Media investigations are ongoing and there should be progress by next week.
On Tuesday, Pierre said officers would be deployed at both schools during the dismissal period. However, Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA) president for the school Michelle Omar-Leiba, who was also at the conference, said there has been no police presence outside the school since the incident.
“We are considered one of the 26 high risk schools; we are supposed to be having, according to the Minister of Education, Community Police passing, we don’t see,” Omar-Leiba said.
Meanwhile, Route 3 Maxi Taxi Association president Vickash Kissoondath told journalists his members were now sceptical about picking up students from both schools.
“Our operators are very much disheartened and basically, they reach the point right now where they are avoiding the students on a daily basis. We had a backup of Caps children yesterday (Thursday) in front the Carapichaima school waiting for transportation,” Kissoondath said.
He said his operators cover a large area in the country and they are ready to have a day of rest and reflection.
“We as a body, right now at least 85 per cent are willing to do a day where they will not be picking up any school children,” he said.
He said this was the only way to raise awareness of their importance and demand swift justice for their colleague, who may be out of work in the months to come. Kissoondath gave those in authority two weeks to respond.
Singh’s bother Narendra, who was also part of the panel, said he may not work that route again.
Meanwhile, Concerned Parents’ Movement president Clarence Mendoza called for the expulsion of all the students involved. He said parents must take the brunt of the blame and they will not stand by and be bullied by students.
“It was an attempted kidnapping of a student, it was high-jacking of a green band maxi...those students that were involved in the kidnapping of a student must be dealt with severely,” he said.
He suggested that the Ministries of National Security and Education should put together a truancy board to deal with the youths. He also suggested that they be placed in Military-Led Academic Training Programme (MiLAT).
Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said this is what will be done.
In a response to Guardian Media, she said parents will be issued final warning letters next week.
The minister said these letters will detail the measures schools have put in place to assist their children in behavioural transformation and indicate clearly that any further involvement in fights or major school indiscipline will result in expulsion.
She said efforts will be made to support the positive development of all students. However, those who resist and continue to disrupt the school environment will be removed in the best interest of all students and school personnel.
In addition, Omar-Leiba suggested a committee be set up to understand the students and what they are going through. The panel also asked that counselling be provided for the victims and other students who witnessed the attack.
