“He’s a good child who wants to be a chef. He will never carry out any violent act against anyone.”
Words coming from the mouth of a hurting mother of one of the boys allegedly involved in criminal behaviour and activity at the Chaguanas North Secondary School.
Afraid that her 16-year-old son has already been branded a criminal by many, including the police, the single mother said all she wanted was for him to complete his upcoming food and nutrition examinations in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate.
The boy is an aspiring chef who wants to pursue studies at the T&T Hospitality and Tourism Institute in Chaguaramas.
He has been charged with issuing a threat to cause grievous bodily harm to a teacher at the school. He was placed on $10,000 bail.
On Wednesday, when the Sunday Guardian visited the family home in a Central community, the boy was preparing a meal of rice and cabbage with tomatoes and salted fish.
His mother, who now works three days a week instead of five because of the recession, was accompanied by an older son—a son who was adamant that his little brother had done absolutely no wrong.
She is hoping it can all blow over soon.
He’s not a criminal
The older brother, a bartender at a south nightclub, said he was happy and proud to see his younger brother excel in school and have a dream. He said he had never gone down the “criminal road.”
“I look like the criminal. I am going to sing about violence out here and get the youths organised for this because it is out of timing.
“The police not giving a youth man a chance to say something. They just branding little boys criminal and putting them in the system.”
He said there were many “good” youths and people needed to assess situations properly before jumping to conclusions.
Throughout the interview, mother and son repeated, “he is a good child.”
Asked to describe her second child, the mother said, “He is a good student.
“If you talk to his teachers...he is a good student. Some of the teachers in school right now are so saddened by it because he is a good student and is not a trouble maker.”
She said the Form Five student heads straight home after school, is on time and only interested in his studies.
“The way they are making it sound is like he is a criminal but he is only 16 years old.
“He is about to write exams and right now he has SBA submissions. Yesterday, (Tuesday) he had to miss it. I went to school today (Wednesday) to find out if he can do his exams later on and they said yes.
“That’s all I am interested in—his exams.”
She maintained that her son would not do anything out of the ordinary.
“He has a dream and he wants to pursue that dream.”
She said her son could prepare meals such as sada roti, curried potatoes, lasagne and bread.
“He can knead flour better than me. He is always trying new recipes.”
Gone into isolation
The young boy has since gone into isolation, the mother said.
She said he has not been sleeping or eating and refused to leave the house.
He has since pleaded guilty to the offence but the events have had a negative impact on him.
The mother said, “While I understand the teacher felt threatened by what he said to her, he admitted he was wrong and knows that he made a silly mistake.
“At the spur at the moment he just said it. He is not the type of person to do that. My son is a real quiet boy, a quiet child. I would go to work and come back and sometimes food cooked already.”
She said because of innocence, he did not even understand at the point in time how serious things had become after the police were called to the school.
Regarding other illegal and gang-related activities at the school, she said he had no involvement.
She said she was angry that police were trying “to pin” him with another incident where a student was attacked.
“My son insisted it is not him.”
Relaying what happened, she said a female teacher was speaking to her son very calmly in the corridors in front of other students and then started to raise her voice.
Her son, she said, felt embarrassed and said, “I will shoot you in your face.”
The teacher felt threatened and the police were called in.
The mother said, “I sat in that station with my other son for almost two hours waiting before they could bring my son to the station.
“He’s not a criminal; he’s my son and only 16 years.”
Teacher: He never had
one suspension to his name
A teacher at the school, speaking under anonymity on Wednesday, defended the student and many others allegedly involved in illegal activities.
The teacher said before casting aspersions, people needed to get their facts and understand situations.
“Where these children come from it is their normal language to speak the way they do.
“I have not finished my investigations as yet.”
The teacher said over the years, discipline and behavioural patterns changed all the time.
“Sometimes you get good students, sometimes you don’t. The children may do their stupidness in between but you have to know how to handle them.
“I was very disturbed. The child never even had one suspension to his name.
“I was very surprised. Normally when they say children giving trouble, I would say I don’t have that problem with them.
“But sometimes you can’t always be sure because it will look like you’re siding with the children, so I have to be careful.
“Nobody talks for the children.”