THE EXEMPLARY RECORDS of two 16-year-old St Leonard’s Boys’ School students proved to be their saving grace yesterday.
However, there was no such luck for two of their 15-year-old colleagues who were remanded to the Government Industrial School (GIS) for the next month.
The four boys appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court to answer charges related to Monday’s stabbing incident at the Richmond Gap, St Michael secondary school.
Jaheim Roberto Holder, of Branckers Gap, Government Hill, and Shakeil Ian Nicholls, of 3rd Avenue, Godding Road, Station Hill, both in St Michael, were granted $5 000 bail each by Magistrate Douglas Frederick after they pleaded not guilty to causing a disturbance at the school on February 12.
Holder also denied assaulting one of the 15-year-old boys occasioning him actual bodily harm.
They are scheduled to return to court on April 12.
Magistrate Frederick said that with all of the violent incidents occurring at schools, the public wanted to know what was happening and wanted it to be curtailed.
However, he said the students’ outstanding behaviour prior to the incident was their saving grace.
“This is a serious matter and one which is trending in Barbados. The public wants people to be held accountable,” he said.
“But I don’t think you will reoffend. You may be in danger and I don’t know how to protect you other than to place you in protective custody, but then your parents will be aggrieved.
“I will err on the side of caution and I will give you bail because the deputy principal has vouched for you through the Probation Department.”
The 15-year-olds, who were unrepresented but accompanied by their mothers, were not as fortunate.
They were remanded until March 14, pending a pre-sentencing report, after pleading guilty to causing a disturbance at the school as well as unlawfully and maliciously wounding Nicholls on Monday.
It was revealed by a probation officer that one of the 15-year-olds had only recently returned to school after serving a five-day suspension.
One of the women broke down in tears after hearing that her son would not be returning home.
Magistrate Frederick contemplated giving the two bail, but decided against it, saying he feared for their safety.
Own safety
“I have no choice but to remand you pending the pre-sentencing report . . . . It is for your own safety,” he told them, adding that tempers would hopefully cool by the time of their release.
Prosecutor Sergeant Theodore McClean told the court that one of the 15-year-olds was at the Home Economics classroom when he was approached by Nicholls, who asked if he wanted to fight.
McClean added that the boy left the area and went to the library where he encountered Nicholls. There was a verbal exchange and the boy left the area after a teacher intervened.
He was followed by Nicholls and when he got to the area of the staircase, he asked Nicholls: “What you looking at me for? You is a ******?”
That angered Nicholls, according to the prosecutor, who responded by punching the boy in the face. A struggle ensued and both boys fell.
While on the ground, the court heard, Nicholls heard someone saying that the boy had a knife and he felt him hitting him in the stomach. Shortly after, the other 15-year-old and Holder joined the fracas.
McClean had earlier objected to bail for both 16-year-olds. He cited the nature and seriousness of the offence, adding that the incident occurred at a school filled with students.
He also said there was an ongoing dispute and feared that if they were granted bail, they would either reoffend or become victims themselves.
But attorneys Akelia Reid and Rhea Layne, who represented Holder and Nicholls, respectively, successfully argued for their clients’ freedom on the basis that they had been model students prior to the incident.
Reid said Holder was not a violent person and had never been in trouble at school or with the law. She said he was preparing for CXCs and had three younger siblings for whom he helped to care.
In her bail application for Nicholls, who received stab wounds about the body, Layne described him as a “good boy”, along with being a prefect and a cadet for the past five years.
She said it would be “unfair” to remand him to prison at this time, especially as he too was preparing for CXCs.
A probation officer who was in the court told the magistrate that the deputy principal at the school confirmed that both Nicholls and Holder had exemplary records. (RB)
