Magistrate: I would be afraid to go to school!

by Viclene Matthews 06.FEB.09

Senior Magistrate Donald Browne has described the nation’s schools in much the same way as war ridden country Iraq.{{more}}

He said that it was “shocking” the number of knife-related incidents that are occurring in our schools today. Magistrate Browne expressed that if he was of school age, “I would be afraid to go to school, dead scared. If I were still a teacher I would retire,” Browne stated. The Senior Magistrate was making those remarks while delivering his sentence in the Kentish Mason case.

Mason was found guilty on Tuesday at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, for wounding Javal Richards, 17, of Largo Height. Both two teenagers, who are students of the Dr J.P Eustace Memorial Secondary School, were involved in an argument in a classroom, and Richards was stabbed on the right side of his back with a pair of scissors. He was rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital where he was diagnosed with a punctured lung.

The 18-year-old Ottley Hall resident was placed on a one-year bond in the sum of $2,500. If he finds himself on the wrong side of the law he will spend one year in prison.

Magistrate Browne urged Mason to keep out of trouble. He told the teen that he is an “aggressive young man and you are going down the wrong road. He (Javal) could have been killed”. The Magistrate continued by advising the youngster that if he wants to live as old as he, he must “turn your life around”.

Mason was represented by Lawyer Cecil “Blazer” Williams.