Feb 23, 2010
Student Attacks Teacher With Knife; Teacher Beats Up Student
A 16-year-old grade-11 student of the Vauxhall High School in east Kingston, is now nursing seven stitches to the nose and two stitches to the head, after he allegedly attacked a teacher with a knife, but was disarmed and beaten up by the teacher. The incident reportedly took place last week Tuesday (February 16), and left the teacher nursing injuries as well.
Angella Chaplin, principal of Vauxhall High, is defending the actions of her teacher, and reportedly said “The boy attacked the teacher with a long knife and the teacher dealt with the situation admirably …. He is a problem child who comes to school and smokes ganja and, even though I don’t give up on my children, I think he will have to take leave and return to sit his external examinations.”
The teenager, who reportedly spent a day in hospital, is denying that he attacked the teacher with the knife, but has admitted that he had taken it to school and attempted to prevent the teacher from confiscating it. According to him, he and the teacher started to wrestle for the knife, and the teacher kicked him, so he grabbed a piece of board and used it to hit the teacher. He alleges that the teacher took the piece of board from him, and then proceeded to beat him with it, allegedly while he was lying defenseless on the floor.
The boy’s mother is quoted today in the media, seemingly focusing more on the fact that her son was beaten up, and less on the fact that he carried a knife to school and fought the teacher who was trying to disarm him. She is quoted saying “The teacher … had disarmed my son, so why did he hit him? Yes, my son was wrong to take the knife to school, but the teacher obviously lost it.“