On the opening day of school, only the newcomers in kindergarten should feel first day jitters. But today the five hundred plus students at St. John’s Anglican Primary School on Amara Avenue were terrified when armed men held up the principal. It happened 5 minutes before the students were sent home for lunch when three men, one of them armed with a gun, went into the principal’s office and held her and another teacher hostage. Keith Swift has the details of this shocking assault.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Classes resumed as normal this afternoon at St. John’s Anglican Primary School – but the principal’s office was still in disarray. Her office was ransacked at 11:25 - 5 minutes before the bell when three men stormed in and demanded money.
Carolyn Westby, Witnessed Robbery
“The principal told me that the three young men went in there and they were asking her for money but she didn’t hand them any money. She was sitting behind her table and because she was refusing to give them any monies, they turned over the table. I guess that’s when I got alerted and realized something was happening. So I think the only thing they went with was her purse
because they saw her bag on the floor and went through her bag and they took her purse but they weren’t able to get any of the school’s money.”
School counsellor Carolyn Westby’s office is next door to the principal’s. She heard the scuffle and went to check. That’s when the gunman turned the gun on her.
Carolyn Westby,
“We heard some noise, we didn’t know what was happening. The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe a parent wanted to beat the principal and the teacher jumped in.”
Keith Swift,
What do you mean by ‘a kind of noise?’
Carolyn Westby,
“It was like a scuffling. That is what I heard and I heard someone cursing. And so this door was locked and I pushed open the door only to see the gunman put the gun in my face. The first thing I did, I just pulled back the door but he pulled it also and so I slammed that heavy door, the board door
and then I told the vice principal for us to go and hide in the bathroom. So we went to the bathroom and locked the ourselves in there.”
The robbers are described as three young men and though there are two security guards posted at the front gate, it is believed the robbers easily entered and exited the compound through this hole in the back fence.
Carolyn Westby,
“There is a hole in the fence behind there but I am in here Keith but I can’t say from where they came in because we have two school wardens placed at the gate so I can only think they probably came from through there. It has to be somebody who is familiar with this place. It has to be.”
The robbery is shocking, to say the least because it put 500 plus students at risk.
Carolyn Westby,
“Registration is usually held the week before school closes and there is another day in the holiday. But you know some parents would still come on the first day and so myself, the vice principal, and the principal were in there and we were all doing registration. I believe that somebody in the area might have known or maybe they might have come earlier and saw and came back. That’s what I believe.
It was just before lunch time. It was just before 11:30. It is not safe Keith. I don’t think we’re safe anywhere and an experience like this, is frightening. This is something I never ever want to experience again.”
And so while they didn’t get away with registration money – they did leave with something priceless – this school and its students’ sense of security.
We should note that at no point were the students at direct risk. The bell did rang for lunch but at that time police officers had already responded and they instructed students to return to their classes. So far, no one has been detained.
