Charges to be laid soon in fatal stabbing of Irwin High schoolboy - police

By Kimone Witter    

 

More students are to be questioned in connection with last week's fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Raniel Plummer outside the gates of Irwin High School in St. James.

 

A 14-year-old student is in custody facing a charge of murder.

 

Superintendent Eron Samuels, Commanding Officer for the St. James Police division, says charges will be laid shortly. 

 

"The investigations are far advanced. In my update from my crime officer, DSP [Michael] Moore, some more students are going to be interviewed, along with the Dean of Discipline, and we intend to proffer charges before the end of this week," he said. 

 

According to Superintendent Samuels, the authorities have identified bullying as an issue at Irwin High School.

 

He said the Safe Schools Taskforce will be introducing a raft of activities to discourage these incidents. 

 

"What we can only do as a unit, that is the Ministry of Education, police, and the other entities involved, is to double up our efforts in tackling this. We have to see how best we can mentor these students, be there for them; as a police, increase our presence on the road, albeit that there was a lot of activities taking place in that time period. We want to ensure that we, you know, be a bit more active right across," he asserted. 

 

The police and representatives from the Ministry of Education on Tuesday provided support to teachers and students at Irwin High. 

 

Board chairman of Irwin High School, Nevin Neish, said the institution will be seeking to engage students through various programmes to minimise opportunities for conflicts to develop.

 

Mr. Neish said students have been benefitting from conflict resolution strategies and the recently launched Behavioural Modification, Investigation and Interaction Programme.

 

Introducing new skill sets, he said, could assist students in channelling their energies. 

 

As such, Mr. Neish said the school wants to partner with people in the development and creative industries, as well as social media influencers who could expose them to new skills.