Patentia School had been dogged by gang - source

Strangers enter the Patentia Secondary School compound at will promoting a gang culture and the police had been called to the school several times in the past to chase them away.

Despite appeals to the Ministry of Education to provide a security guard to man the gates, nothing has been done, sources at the school say. Had the calls been answered, the incidents that led up to the fatal shooting last week of 16-year-old Kelvin Fraser, could have been avoided, they believe.

Fraser, a fourth form student at the Patentia Secondary School, was laid to rest in the Patentia cemetery on Monday, a week after he was shot by a policeman. On June 7, he died in what police said was a scuffle with a rank who was attempting to arrest him. A post-mortem examination found that he died of shock and haemorrhage from laceration of the lungs caused by gunshot injuries. The teenager was shot in the left side of his chest at close range and several pellets were retrieved from his body.

On June 7, Fraser had left home to meet his girlfriend at the school, after receiving a call from her. He had not attended school that day and did not wear his uniform. After meeting her, he had planned to go to Georgetown to buy a birthday gift for her. He met her in a classroom.

At the time, there were four strangers in the school. They were not students. They hung around at a stairway at the southern section of the school building and smoked what smelt like marijuana, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named. “We does got to battle with this thing every day”, one said. “When they outside smoking, you does smell the thing”. This newspaper was told that the youths waited at the stairway for female students to pass and then grabbed at them.

The Headmistress of the School would only confirm that on June 7 she had called a community policing officer who in turn contacted the police after observing the actions of the four youths, who were not students. She declined to say more.

Armed police were dispatched to the scene and Fraser, who had come downstairs, ran away after reportedly observing the police beating the youths who were said to be smoking. He was pursued and fatally shot at Third Street, Patentia, a short distance away. The sources said that he was not a part of the gang.

According to them, strangers entered the compound every day, smoking and harassing students. They hung out close to a stairway at a position where they could easily escape when authorities were called and on at least one occasion, ran rings around the police. With them, they brought a “Gaza and Gully” culture (Jamaican dancehall rivalry), spraying and writing slogans on the walls and influencing students, who took to gambling and other activities, according to the sources. One said that since corporal punishment was a no-no, there was little teachers could do except to speak to the students and counselling was done on occasions.

“Over and over”, teachers have had cause to complain to the Ministry of Education and the police, the sources said. June 7 was not the first time the police had been called and strangers simply walked in because there was no one to stop them.

Since the shooting of Fraser, the matter was raised with the Ministry but it was “promise as usual”, said the sources. “We are still waiting”.

According to the sources, teachers do not feel safe at the school and since the shooting the head-teacher has been on the receiving end of several abusive remarks with one parent walking into the compound to verbally abuse her. The question was asked as to who will protect the teachers. “Right now we not safe here. It’s really unfair”.

On June 7, the police had held five youths but they were all released. Fear was expressed that they might return to the school and continue their behaviour. “It’s a long time it has been going on”, said one source.