St Ann mother demands action after prep student beaten by five classmates

An 11-year-old at St John's Preparatory School in St Ann says he feared for his life on 4 May when five schoolmates surrounded him after a play fight escalated, one lifting a chair as if to strike—exactly two months after 16-year-old Devoney Share of Ocho Rios High School was fatally hit with a metal chair on 4 March 2026, allegedly by a 17-year-old schoolmate.

The grade six pupil said another student had been picking on him, that words were exchanged, and that he pushed back in self-defence before others joined. He ran into a classroom but said they followed and threw objects. "I thought I was going to die," he told reporters. Teachers were busy with graduation photographs when the fight broke out; the accused boys were withdrawn pending investigation.

Principal Bertram Watson said staff learned only when the mother called. Parents were summoned, the injured boy was sent to a doctor, and parents of the other boys offered to pay medical costs and apologised. Watson denied gang-style patterns at the school and said those involved must stay home until the board decides next steps.

The mother, who requested anonymity, said she learned from her son on a video call showing a head bump, not from the school. She has withdrawn him, may pursue legal action, and said he had faced at least four prior bullying incidents. The child does not want to return: "Because when I come back, I don't want to if the chair is going to hit me this time."

Bullying reports to the National Children's Registry reached 49 between 1 January and 26 March 2026, up from 130 in 2022 to 167 in 2025.

Separately, Kingston music producer Wayne Price, 47, was sentenced last Friday to 15 years on possession counts and life for stockpiling prohibited weapons, with parole after 10 years, after a 10 February conviction over eight imitation firearms found at his Grants Pen Drive, Kingston 8 home on 28 December 2023. He said they were music-video props and had no permit.

Attorneys Kimberly Whittaker and Lawrence Smith and Jamaicans for Justice director Mickel Jackson have criticised mandatory minimums under the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act 2022, while the government has signalled a possible review.