SPANISH Town, St Catherine:

Mylan Blake, also called Marlon Black, the teacher from Jonathan Grant High School who is facing 18 counts of aiding and abetting assault occasioning bodily harm and wounding, will return to court on May 12.

When the case was called up in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, Blake pleaded not guilty and his attorney Earl Hamilton argued that his client was not at all connected to the March 12 incident.

He told the court that Blake has had a business in the De La Vega City community for the past six years and that he was attending to his business when the six boys were beaten.

Parent warned

Having heard this, and with all parents present in court, one of the mothers faced the ire of the judge when she told the judge she did not want to take the matter any further.

The judge warned the parent that, if she did not come to court with her child the next time the matter came before her, a warrant would be issued for her and the child to be brought.

The allegations are that, on March 12 about 12:45 p.m., police personnel were called to the De La Vega City Community Centre. When they arrived, they saw the six boys sitting with their backs to the wall, their hands behind them and men using pieces of wood and their feet to administer blows all over their bodies.

It was also revealed that further investigations led to the arrest of Blake, who was caught on the scene where the beating was taking place.