Charges dropped against Tivoli Gardens student involved in school brawl
Published:Tuesday | November 22, 2022 | 5:25 PM
The charges against the 16-year-old Tivoli Gardens High School student who was captured on video in a June 6 brawl with a female teacher have been dropped.
The case was reportedly discontinued in the Kingston and St Andrew Family Court last week.
A representative close to the case informed The Gleaner that all parties have been satisfied.
Debraly Coleman, the teen's mother, told The Gleaner on Tuesday that the teacher had dropped the charges because she did not want to affect the boy's future.
“She say she nah go no further with it because she don't want him to have a criminal record, because she say she love him and... she nuh wah nothing bad against him,” she explained.
The student had been charged with assault and malicious destruction of property.
The June 6 classroom brawl, which was captured on video and widely circulated on social media platforms, sparked national outrage.
The 16 year old said he went to the classroom to buy sweets from a female student during lunch break.
Following a request to leave the classroom, which he did not initially comply with, he alleged that the teacher threw a bag at him.
The boy said he acted in self-defence when the incident escalated.
Coleman told The Gleaner that her son has been improving in school and that he has displayed positive behavioural changes following a transfer from the institution.
“Me just did wah get him away from the company and the friends dem,” she said.
She further stated that she was comforted that her son had learnt his lesson to be cautious in the manner in which he reacts to different situations.
The teenager was represented by attorney-at-law Vincent Wellesley who in a June 21 interview with The Gleaner, expressed the view that the 56-year-old teacher should have also been charged, arguing that she played a role in the incident.
- Asha Wilks
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