– one student reportedly hospitalised, another in police custody
A STUDENT of the New Campbellville Secondary School is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital after he and a gang of boys attempted to ‘bank’ (gang beat) another student last week. And 17-year-old Alwyn Wayne, another student of the same school, was reportedly in police custody assisting with investigations into how the hospitalized student acquired his injuries.
Mother of the detained Alwyn Wayne spoke with the Guyana Chronicle, but opted to withhold her name. Her narration is that her son has long been a target of the gang, headed by the now hospitalised student, whose name she gave as Avalon Hall.
She related that, two Friday’s ago, her son came home and informed her that a gang of boys had ‘banked’ him, rendering him unconscious for several hours. That matter was reported to the head teacher of the school. The gang of boys, including the now hospitalised Avalon Hall, who was allegedly armed with a knife and ice pick, had pounced on her son. A scuffle ensued, and Avalon Hall was injured with one of the weapons he allegedly was carrying at the time.
The woman is contending that the police are not thoroughly investigating the issue. According to the woman, her son was the only one in police custody, while the police do not seem keen on going after the other boys.
The visibly frustrated woman said it was a gang that banked her son, and under the circumstances, it was impossible for her son to be the one inflicting the grievous bodily harm. She said the gang that banked her son comprised more than five boys.
“They (police) ‘ring down’ my phone whole day, insisting that I should take him to the station. What happen to the other guys? Why they cannot go and pick up the other guys, and they are well aware that is not he alone was involved in it?”
She said that the gang would occasionally pass by her house, looking for her son. Asked what could be the reason for the gang’s interest in her son, the woman said she was not sure. According to her, after she realised what has now become a trend, she asked her son why the boys continue to target him, and he replied that he was unaware.
The mother claimed that, sometime ago, she had to approach the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security after the head teacher of the school had failed to act on reports that her son made to her about the gang.
The woman claimed too that she had approached the head teacher on a previous occasion, after her son had complained that the head teacher had physically abused him.
She said the head teacher has since apologised for that incident. When the Guyana Chronicle contacted the school’s head teacher, Ms. Gail Archer, on Friday last, about the allegations against her and the gang at the school, she denied the allegations and hung up her telephone.