Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator

Percival Crew, 14 years old, was stabbed to death yesterday after refusing to hand over his cellular phone. - Contributed

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Albion Primary and Junior High School in Montego Bay, St. James, was plunged into mourning yesterday, following news that one of its students was fatally stabbed when he refused to hand his cellular phone to a thief.

The dead student, 14-year-old Percival Crew of Paradise/Norwood in St. James, was killed about 100 metres from the school.

"Our entire school body is traumatised, we are trying our best to deal with the situation," said principal Lenoval Morle. "He was a student with a great deal of promise."

Counselling

The headmaster said the Ministry of Education's trauma team would be conducting counselling sessions today with students and staff, some of whom wept openly.

Percival's mother, Bernice Adair, said her son - affectionately known as 'Bun Bun' - was the youngest of her 11 children.

"Me feeling very bad, but I just have to take it with a smile," she told The Gleaner. "He was a very jovial person."

Reports are that at about 12:40 p.m., Percival was walking along the Albion main road after school when he was approached by a man who demanded his cellphone, which was handed over.

It is said that his attacker refused the phone and asked for another one, which the child had in his possession. Percival refused and he was stabbed several times. His killer escaped on foot in the area.

A similar situation could also have played out at the nearby Cornwall College on Monday. The police confirmed that two gunmen invaded a sixth-form class and stole cellular phones and money from the students.

nagra.plunkett@gleanerjm.com

Lenoval Morle, principal of the Albion Primary and Junior High School in Montego Bay where a 14-year-old student was stabbed to death. - photo by Mark Titus