More details coming to light about Tuesday’s after school brawl that left a 9th grader dead and two other teen boys in the hands of the police.
Based on information police turned over to Education Minister Jeffrey Lloyd, 15-year-old TA Thompson student Pierre Louis of Wilson Track was walking home in the Pitt Road area when he was accosted by two CC Sweeting students.
“The two young men, one of them was in possession of a knife, and handed the knife to the other young man who then directed him to stab the victim which the young man did several times about the body, one of which was in his chest.”
“The victim was taken to the hospital and succumbed to his injuries sometime later,” he said.
The two boys allegedly behind the fatal stabbing are a 15 and 16 year-old.
Police did not say whether Tuesday’s incident was gang related, but they have admitted to the Minister that for some time, they have had to deal with gang violence within the community of students from T.G Glover, T.A Thompson and C.C Sweeting.
Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin yesterday pointed out that Pierre is the second child from her constituency who has died from such violence while wearing a uniform.
“This is speaking very terribly to what is happening in our country with our young people and it requires all hands on deck.”
“It is not a political issue, it is not a police issue. The police have a very limited role; they’re law enforcement.”
“In Urban Renewal they are suppose to have some proactivity in prevention.”
“The Bahamas is a wonderful country , but the levels of violence we are experiencing is dismal, it’s speaking very poorly to the diminishing of quality of life in this country and our cultural norms as a people,” she said.
The PLP MP called for the country to come together and address and redress such challenges.
She added, “there has to be a way for us to find a way to ensure that these children are not coming to school with knives, leaving the school with knives or are in the school zone with knives.”
Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mrs. Hanna Martin said,“I’m sorry to say this Mr. Speaker, because I wasn’t one of those people who supported having police in the schools. I didn’t support that, but I think we have to find a way to ensure that children are safe going to and from school. It’s a human right to access education without being killed.”
Meanwhile a grieving mother and loved ones and traumatized students teachers and administrators of the Gregory Street campus greeted the Minister, who was ushered into a room of nine young men and three young women.
The group – all witnesses to the crime, and were all inconsolable.
“Young men are crying without any regard for their self-consciousness and it only reflects how deeply affected we are as a society by incidences of violence.
“It is just unfair that our young people must negotiate a life that seems to be peppered with incidences of senseless acts of violence, it is tragic,” Minister Lloyd said.
Deeply disappointed and regretful, the Education Minister acknowledged that in the wake of Tuesday’s tragedy, TA Thompson is now a broken spirited community.
It is our responsibility in the Ministry of Education to invite our young people to accept, appreciate and respect their innate dignitary value which is matchless and peerless, because it comes from God.”
“ It is also our responsibility to invite them to life; life that they will have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; but will also have when they submit to the instructions that they receive at the hands of our principal, teachers and administrators,” he said.
Grief counsellors are expected to remain at the school for as long as necessary. The Police Force’s family liaison section will give additional support.
Before heading off to the House of Assembly, the Education Minister also visited C.C Sweeting, where he said students were equally distraught and shocked.
Fort Charlotte MP, Mark Humes, said such incidents are always troubling.
“We have an issue with gangs in this country. We have an issue with juvenile delinquency, and at some point we’re going to have to take a hold of this issue.”
“There are many laws on the books that relate to parental oversight of young people and I think we’re going to have to look at those carefully to see how we’re holding parents responsible for their under- aged children,” he said.
