Stabbed student out of danger
Assailant goes to police
Stabroek News
January 24, 2003
The St Barnabas schoolboy, Troy Rogers, stabbed below the heart by a fellow student, underwent emergency surgery on Wednesday and is in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The Police Public Relations Department yesterday afternoon said that Rogers’ attacker was assisting the police in their investigations. He went to the Alberttown Police Station in the company of his mother after being advised by Ministry of Education officials to do so.
According to reliable reports, the 15-year-old Rogers of Lodge was attacked by a third form colleague during the lunch break in the school’s yard on Regent Street.
The attacker, another 15-year-old who attends the same school, had been absent during Wednesday’s morning session and had gone to the school out of uniform.
Students, who witnessed the incident said the two boys had been arguing about a minor incident involving Rogers’ younger brother, when the attacker pulled out an instrument that looked like a big ice-pick and stabbed him. He then fled.
Students and staff expressed surprise at the behaviour of the boy saying he was a quiet student who appeared as though he could harm no one. It is understood that the attacker went home and told his mother that he had inflicted an injury on the foot of another student.
Stabroek News understands that staff of the special school were upset with the security. Students are not allowed to leave the school compound during the mid-day hours. Students out of school uniform are also not allowed to enter the school compound without a proper reason given to the guard.
A Ministry of Education official said that because of the academic level of the intake of students, the school has some rigid rules that are generally adhered to.
He noted that the school caters for underachievers in the secondary stream including children with behavioural problems and school dropouts. In spite of this, the official said St Barnabas has had a number of children who have done well and have been channelled to the general secondary system, going on to write the Caribbean Examinations Council exams. Others have attended the Guyana Industrial Training Centre and the Carnegie School of Home Economics.
