Criminal minds - Authorities decry bad boys in school after Calabar students attack bus driver
Published:Tuesday | April 30, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer
Sections of the society were left outraged yesterday over news that students from a popular Corporate Area high school attacked and seriously wounded a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus driver.
The driver, 46-year-old Errol Lemard, was taken to hospital and treated for stab wounds and bruises inflicted all over his body after he was allegedly pounced upon by a mob of students dressed in Calabar High School uniforms.
Up to press time yesterday, it was unclear if any of the students were charged but an earlier police report stated that nine students were taken into police custody and arrangements were being made for them to be questioned.
Step up raids
News of the attack yesterday was enough to trigger National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) President Everton Hannam to call for parents to be "brought to book" over the actions of their children, as well as for the police to step up sporadic raids in the nation's schools.
"If what is being alleged was actually perpetrated by students, then we want to condemn even more these acts of violence which seem to be taking root in various important institutions," Hannam declared.
"These (acts of violence) have become of serious concern. While I will not speak to the particular incident, since there are various allegations, I just want to say that we have to, as parents, be very mindful of some of the activities in which our children are involved. Parents must somehow now be brought to book for some of the behaviours that are now being displayed by some of our children, especially when it comes to instances like this."
JUTC Director of Communication Reginald Allen, who visited the driver at the Spanish Town Hospital, said what transpired yesterday was "significantly concerning" for the staff at JUTC.
"It's rather amazing that it is students we are talking about here. In the same persona you have both students and hardened criminals because that is the activity you would expect from hardened criminals. They damaged the bus, they robbed the bus and they injured the operator."
Opened emergency vent
Allen, in relaying the report he got from the 46-year-old bus driver, said while travelling along a section of Constant Spring Road from Half-Way Tree in St Andrew yesterday morning, the driver heard a loud noise at the back of the bus and stopped to investigate. Upon investigation, he found out that students had pulled open the emergency vent in the roof of the bus.
"The driver stopped and declared that it was unsafe to continue driving that bus because the top was exposed," Allen said. "While he was outside protesting, I understand that some students went up to the front to where the driver operates and went into where the money was. He intervened and a boy attacked him from in the bus, came outside and a group of them kicked him all over. He got a wound below his right eye and he is now having back pain."
Allen said he was shocked that the incident took place in full view of passengers and other persons travelling along the road.
"This was a packed bus as far as the driver reported, so everybody saw. It happened at 8 a.m. at the bus stop in front of Merl Grove; busy Constant Spring Road," he lamented. "It seems a bit of a lesson for the society at large in terms of school administration and what's really happening. These are students."
He was unable to say the amount of money that was stolen by the students.
Reviewing safety mechanisms
The Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, in responding to the news, said it had taken note of the risks that JUTC drivers face on a daily basis and was now reviewing its safety mechanisms in a bid to further improve the security of its personnel. The ministry pointed to another incident two months ago where a JUTC driver was shot while on duty.
"The incident represents yet another low with regard to the level of respect shown to public servants in authority, evident in the reports that the culprits are students."
Additionally, the ministry urged witnesses to yesterday's attack to convey what they saw to the police.
Calabar's principal, Albert Corcho, in television reports last night, acknowledged that the students were from the institution and indicated that he would be reviewing the surveillance video in an effort to identify the boys involved.