Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

Three of the six boys of the Jonathan Grant High School, who were beaten by men from the Dela Vega City community, wait in the guardroom of the Spanish Town Police Station yesterday, from where they were taken for medical treatment. They were earlier accused of stealing a teacher's cellphone. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

Teachers and students of Jonathan Grant High School in St Catherine say they are living in fear after six grade 11 boys, who were accused of stealing a teacher's cellphone, were severely beaten by a group of men after leaving school yesterday. The men were armed with pieces of wood.

According to Principal Cortis Nolan, the incident did not take place on the school compound. Nonetheless, she said it was cause for concern. She told The Gleaner that two weeks ago a teacher reported a cellphone stolen. Students were searched, the phone was not located, and the school thought the matter was finished. However, the men accosted the boys after school yesterday and rained blows all over their bodies.

Living in fear

"We are living in fear as two weeks ago a teacher's child was attacked and slapped in the face while in the bus terminus in Spanish Town," the principal told The Gleaner.

Police reports are that at about 1:45 p.m. yesterday, they were called tothe Dela Vega City community centre. On arrival persons were observed looking inside the building. On investigating, it was discovered that six boys age 16-17 were being beaten by men who ran upon seeing the police.

"When we arrived we saw the students sitting with their backs to the wall and their hands behind them and the men beating them. Some of them were bleeding from their mouth and others from their nose. They were taken to the Spanish Town Police Station where they were contacted by parents and the guidance counsellor and then taken for medical treatment," a policeman revealed.

Writhing in pain

When The Gleaner visited the station, several of the boys were seen on the ground writhing in pain, with swollen faces, bruised lips and other injuries. They said they were accused of stealing the teacher's cellphone and were taken to the community centre as they left school and subsequently soundly beaten.

Angry parents vented their feelings yesterday outside the police station.

"My son nah thief nobody phone an him school record can prove seh him honest. Moreover, mi no tink no man outside the school compound fi beat mi pickney," remarked Marie Hunt, the mother of one of the boys. Other parents expressed similar sentiments.

Meanwhile, the male teacher, whom the police said they saw on the scene where the boys were being beaten, was taken in for questioning.