Student charged with B.B. Coke schoolboy beating

ST ELIZABETH:

A student has been charged in relation to the beating of another student at the B.B. Coke High School in St Elizabeth on Thursday.

Yesterday, head of the St Elizabeth Division, Acting Superintendent Coleridge Minto, revealed that the minor, who was taken into custody on Friday, was charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. He will be arraigned tomorrow.

The injured student is now receiving help from the Government with treatment.

The 14-year-old was yesterday transferred by ambulance from the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester to the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew to undergo a CT scan.

His aunt Tameka Holness told The Sunday Gleaner that Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton reached out to the family offering assistance after they had expressed frustration to locate a working CT machine in Manchester to help with her nephew’s treatment.

“We really appreciate it, although it is so unfortunate that none of the machines in Mandeville is working,” said Holness.

It is alleged that sometime after 2 p.m. on Thursday, the boys were among a group of students collecting their cell phones at a security post on the school compound when the incident happened.

It is reported that the grade eight student accidentally stepped on the accused boy’s shoes.

The senior schoolboy allegedly got upset and hit the student in his face, causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.

Other students reportedly intervened and the injured boy was taken to hospital by his schoolmates.