GSA to discipline ‘getaway’ students
Director of Administration of the GSA, Dr. Dexter Allen speaks with the Guyana Chronicle (Photos by Samuel Maughn)
Director of Administration of the GSA, Dr. Dexter Allen speaks with the Guyana Chronicle (Photos by Samuel Maughn)

By Leroy Smith

FOUR students of the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) at Mon Repos who ignored the institution’s curfew in order to attend a party at Paradise were unfortunately mistaken for bandits and got a thrashing from a vigilante group last Saturday.Chief Executive Officer of the GSA, Brian Greenidge, is of the view that the institution will now have to work to regain the trust of the surrounding communities on the East Coast of Demerara and rebuild the relationships they once shared.

Chief Executive Officer of the GSA, Brian Greenidge, makes a point during the interview
Chief Executive Officer of the GSA, Brian Greenidge, makes a point during the interview

He made the comment during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday, in response to the vigilante-style beating of four GSA students who were mistaken for bandits last week Saturday.
According to the CEO, based on the initial findings of an internal investigation by the GSA, it was found that the six young men were in breach of the school’s policy and code as it relates to leaving and entering the compound.
They scaled the northern fence of the premises, and made their way out of the GSA rather than use the official entrance and exit point. They also left the compound after the curfew time had passed, and so they will be disciplined, the CEO explained.
Greenidge said that while he is not sanctioning vigilante-style justice, he expressed some sympathy with the residents of the community who were on high alert, given the recent Bank of Baroda robbery less than 24 hours earlier. Moreover, in the past, there have been several break-and-enter incidents at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), with the perpetrators escaping via the same route that the students took on Saturday when they got away from the institution.
He said that according to the students, they were heading to a party at Paradise farther up the East Coast on the night of the incident.
The students at the centre of the incident are between the ages 18 and 20, and are part of a one-year certificate in forestry programme.
According to senior GSA personnel, what angered the residents was the fact that the students were observed walking through the yard of a resident at nightfall and although they were called on to identify themselves they ignored those calls and continued walking.
It was then that an alarm was raised, and the residents mobilised and caught up with the men a short distance away. After they were attacked, it was then that the students related that they were from the GSA, something that the residents found hard to believe.
The school was made aware of the development only when one of the students who was among the six managed to escape the beating, and made his way back to the campus, where he alerted the senior staff while another made his way to the police station.
The police, who were patrolling in the community as part of Operation Dragnet, went to the rescue of the young men.
They were escorted to the police station, booked and subsequently taken for medical attention. Several attempts yesterday to get from senior police officers whether the affected students were able to identify any of the persons who had beaten them were unsuccessful.

 

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