Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Three students at the United Theological College (UTC) were recently attacked by armed gunmen who entered the school compound by scaling the institution's rear wall last Friday.

This has occurred despite school administration's efforts to strengthen security across the campus in recent years.

The theological institution, which is located on Golding Avenue across from the University of the West Indies (UWI), has been plagued by such incidents in the past. Over the years there have been several reported cases of assault and theft and, just last year, two girls were raped on the school compound.

Pleading for safety

While the students have acknowledged the efforts of the administration to keep them safe, students say they live in perpetual fear as they do not feel secure on the campus.

"Generally, I don't feel safe and its like you have to always be on your alert," one student told The Gleaner. "You have to make sure you lock up all the time."

The student added: "Sometimes you are not even aware when things happen. So students are sometimes attacked and no one knows about it for months."

However, Lesley Anderson, president of the UTC, told The Gleaner that school administrators have taken the issue of security quite seriously.

"We have done everything humanly possible to beef up security," he said. "We've put up barbed wire on the fencing, we've put up a new wall and we've hired Hawkeye to come in and insert panic buttons on the facility," said Mr. Anderson.

He said the recent incidents of assault and theft have affected both students and teachers, as the rooms of several tutors have also been broken into - even his own.

Students told The Gleaner that last Friday, about 10:20 p.m., three masked gunmen broke into the room of a female student on the campus. According to one student, who witnessed the incident from her room, the gunmen had been patrolling around the campus for several minutes, before they lay waited students. They attacked two young men before escaping with a laptop computer and several cellphones.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com