‘I thought I was going to die’

ON March 4, 2026 Jamaica was left shaken when 16-year-old Devonie Shearer, a student of Ocho Rios High School in St Ann, was fatally struck in the head with a metal chair, allegedly wielded by a 17-year-old schoolmate. Exactly two months later, on May 4, an 11-year-old boy at St John’s Preparatory School in the same parish said he feared he would suffer the same deadly fate as he was surrounded and beaten by five schoolmates, one of whom lifted a chair to hit him.

Reports from the school indicate that the incident began as a ‘play fight’, which escalated following a verbal exchange while teachers were occupied assisting students taking graduation photographs. The students accused of being involved were subsequently withdrawn from the school pending an investigation.

However, the 11-year-old boy and his mother, who requested anonymity, view the incident as a matter of life and death. The mother said she has since withdrawn her son from the school and is now contemplating legal action, expressing outrage that she learned of the incident from her child, rather than being formally notified by the school.

According to the grade six student, the incident began when another student approached him and started picking on him. He said the two exchanged words, with him repeatedly pleading for the student to stop. He alleged that the student continued the behaviour and eventually began shoving him around.

The child admitted that he pushed the student back, in self-defence. He said several other students then joined the confrontation, prompting him to run into a classroom in an attempt to escape. However, he claimed the boys followed him inside, throwing objects at him before the situation escalated.

He recalled one particularly frightening moment when, he said, one of the boys picked up a chair and appeared ready to swing it at him.

“I thought I was going to die. I was just thinking to take up a chair and block it, then run to Miss and tell her, but since I was tired after the incident, I couldn’t tell Miss, and I only just went home, but the incident was videoed and sent to the [WhatsApp] group. I was just very sad and tired,” the 11-year-old told the Jamaica Observer.

He said he also felt angry because the boys talked about his mother, but mostly sad because he was in a lot of pain.

“I had a sharp pain in my chest and my legs, and when I was going home, my legs were trembling. I just wanted to get up and run. I just wanted to leave and go back home and lie down and hope to Jesus that my pain will go away. My voice was struggling, and I was just too tired, and I wanted to go home,” he said, explaining why he did not immediately report the incident to a teacher.

As he reflected on the confrontation, the 11-year-old recalled the news of the Ocho Rios High School incident.

He added that he does not feel safe at school and does not wish to return.

When asked why, he said: “Because when I come back, I don’t know if the chair is going to hit me this time.”

St John’s Preparatory School Principal Bertram Watson admitted that the school administrators were not aware of the incident until the mother contacted them.

“From there, we launched our own internal investigation. Parents were called in, we met with the parents, and we met with the father of the child [who was hurt]. He was told to take the child to the doctor. The parents [of the boys who attacked the child] who were present said to him that they would cover the medical expenses, and they apologised based on what had taken place,” said Watson.

He added that the matter was also reported to the school board, and the boys involved were asked to stay home until the board made a decision on further action.

“There has never been any gang-related or any gang fight or any group of students fighting in such a manner. One of the boys in question, he had an issue with him in grade 5, I believe it was. The parents were called in and they were met with. We had meetings and the incident was resolved. To say that this is an ongoing thing would be disingenuous, to say the least,” Watson told the Sunday Observer.

The principal stressed that the school has a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to bullying.

“If parents would reach out to say that ‘My son or my daughter is being bullied,’ we would always reinforce our stance when it comes to bullying. We would have gone on anti-bullying campaigns where we’d share flyers in the WhatsApp groups, we’d organise webinars based on what would have been planned through the Ministry of Education, and we would have had talks with students at devotion, at [the] class level, about the effects of bullying,” said Watson.

While she acknowledged that the school has taken step to address the matter, the child’s mom said she was furious she had to learn about the incident from her son when he placed a video call to her after school to show her the bump in his head. She claimed that her son had been involved in at least four separate bullying incidents at the school.

According to the mother, as investigations into the incident progressed, some parents reached out to apologise and pleaded with her not to pursue further action. However, she remains resolute, insisting that she must stand up for her son.

“If there’s a penalty, we have to make our kids know that there are penalties for their actions. The only thing I may reconsider is bringing a lawsuit, but publicity has to go on. At the end of the day, I’m on his side. I don’t want further on in life my child says five boys beat him up and my mother never do anything,” she told the Sunday Observer.

She stressed that she is not being vindictive and appreciates all that the school has done for her son, but insisted that the incident cannot be swept under the rug.

The mother, who was sitting final exams towards becoming an attorney when the incident occurred, said it was painful being away from her son, knowing the emotional distress he is experiencing. She said the incident has left the child withdrawn and unusually quiet, and she was deeply affected by his pain.

“There was a point in time when I lay down on my bed, and it was like I felt every hit my pickney get in his head. Somebody told me once that when a child dies the mother feels the labour pain, and I feel like every hit the pickney get I felt in my head the night when I lay down,” she said, her voice cracking.

She called on parents to stop bad behaviour at a young age before it festers into something that cannot be controlled.

As Jamaica celebrates Child Month under the theme ‘Prioritise Our Children’s Mental Health: Strong Minds, Safer Future’, the 11-year-old noted that bullying is one act that endangers children’s mental health.

“Bullying affects your mental health and makes you unstable, and sometimes when people bully too hard it can get so bad that they end their own life or the bully ends it for them,” he said.

He recommended that teachers supervise children more closely to prevent them from getting into trouble or hurting their schoolmates.

The 11-year-old stressed that it is important to keep children safe, because “if you don’t keep children safe, they lose their lives”.

According to Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Jamaica is a signatory, children have the right to be protected from all forms of violence, including bullying, physical, and mental abuse. Bullying violates fundamental rights to education, health, and dignity, requiring states to take legislative and social measures to prevent it, support victims, and ensure a safe, inclusive environment.

However, reports of bullying among Jamaican youth have been increasing over the last few years, with 2026 already recording 49 incidents up to March 26.

A breakdown of data obtained by the Sunday Observer from the National Children’s Registry, a division of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, shows that of the 49 incidents reported between January 1 and March 26 this year, January recorded the highest number with 22 cases, followed by 11 in February, and 16 in March.

A trend analysis of bullying reports over the last three years further revealed an increase in reports from 2022 to 2025. The data show that in 2022 there were 130 incidents of bullying reported, with the number climbing to 140 in 2023. The year 2024 continued the upward trend with 151 reported incidents, followed by a further increase to 167 in 2025.

Additionally, a total of 55 critical incident reports, mostly related to violence in schools, were submitted, as required, to the Ministry of Education and Youth between January 2022 and January 2023.

The Jamaica Violence Against Children and Youth Survey 2023 further revealed that among children 13 to 24 years old who attended school, about one in four females and one in three males knew of gang activity in their school.

Of the 55 critical incident reports mostly related to violence in schools received by the ministry in January 2022 and January 2023, a total of 15 incidents occurred at primary schools and 35 at high schools.

St John’s Preparatory School in St Ann.

A trend analysis of bullying reports over the last three years revealed an increase in reports from 2022 to 2025.

The 11-year-old victim is pictured with a bump on his head from the incident.