[UPDATED] Student, 16, robbed at gunpoint

Hours after a nearby school held a peaceful demonstration over safety concerns for students, a 16-year-old Penal Secondary School student, was robbed at gunpoint as classes ended for the day on September 19.

The victim told police he was standing at the corner of Clarke Road and Oliviere Drive, Penal, around 2.30 pm when two men approached him. He said one pulled out a gun and announced a holdup. He handed over his iPhone 14, valued at $10,000, after which the men ran away.

The victim and his mother went to the Penal Police Station and reported the robbery. Police visited the scene and are continuing enquiries.

Eight hours earlier, the St Dominic's RC Primary School's Parent Teacher Council held a demonstration less than 200 feet away from where the boy was robbed.

The parents called for the school to be rebuilt and raised several issues plaguing the students and staff. Among them were safety concerns.

Oliviere Street is home to several schools. Heading up the hill from Clarke Road is Penal Secondary, followed by Holy Faith Convent. Sharing the compound with the all-girls' school is a migrant school at the back of St Dominic's RC Church, and the church's parish hall houses the St Dominic's Primary School's infants.

The primary school was previously opposite, across Oliviere Street, but was decanted in 2017 after an earthquake compromised the building, leading to its being demolished.

The students have since been split between the church and, less than one kilometre away, the Standards One to Five students are housed at the Penal Community Centre.

During the protest, the council's president Sharon Baptiste and TT Unified Teachers' Association president Martin Lum Kin raised concerns over students' safety, pointing out there was no dedicated security for the infants at the church.

At the community centre, he said, ongoing programmes would see adults on the premises, who were strangers to the school, with the children and would often share washrooms with the students.

Commenting on the student's robbery, Baptiste told Newsday it underscored the need for security to be stationed at the church grounds to protect the infant students.

"Our students could be at risk. Suppose one of them (robbers) come by the school now?"

She said earlier this year, the migrant school behind the parish hall where the infants are housed was robbed.

Lum Kin agreed, saying: "The fact that the student from Penal Secondary was robbed close to that vicinity...drives home the point that the security at the parish hall needs to be put in place with alacrity."

He also called for the student who was robbed to be given counselling.

"We are thankful...that the student did not receive major injuries, but we are of the view that the student would have gone through quite a bit of psychological effects due to that incident, and we wish the student all the best in recovering.

"TTUTA calls for the relevant authority to ensure that the security of schools and occupants are done in a timely manner but also to collaborate with the TT Police Service and other agencies to ensure that the students and educators are also safe traversing the pathway to and from the schools."

Commenting on the robbery, Penal Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) chairman Gowtam Maharaj called for additional officers and resources for its municipal police force to allow the unit the manpower to institute patrols in the area.

"As the corporation, the target figure would have been 100. We are significantly lower than that. Right now the numbers are so small we are barely making it in shift to carry out (work)."

He said the corporation was spending $290,000 and $200,000 to upgrade the Penal and Debe municipal police posts respectively in anticipation of additional officers.

On September 14, the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government inducted 164 recruits into the Municipal Police Academy. After 20 weeks of training, the constables will be allocated to municipal corporations across the country.

Head of the Municipal Police Service ACP Surrendra Sagramsingh told Newsday if all trainees graduate, each of the ten municipalities under the Public Service Commission could get about 15 officers.

After Thursday's demonstration, Catholic Education Board of Management CEO Sharon Mangroo told Newsday the board was aware of the security concerns and had been lobbying the Ministry of Education to resolve them, without success.

On Friday she said the board was in discussion with the school's principal over security for the infants.

Newsday called Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis for comment on issues facing the classes at the community centre. She answered that she was in Parliament and was unable to speak. She was sent a WhatsApp message was sent but no response was received up to press time.

The school's Parent Teacher Council raised the safety concerns as part of an overarching plea for their school to be rebuilt.

While Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly did not comment on the security issues on Thursday, she had told Newsday the school's reconstruction was a priority and would be undertaken once the requisite financing was available.

However, Baptiste said this "assurance" had been received numerous times before, and is now calling for a written commitment from the minister.

"Give us some ground proof that, okay, this is what you're (the minister) is saying, and we want to hold your word with it. We want to have a little proof."

She said this would help parents in the event of an administration change in the general election, which is due before the end of 2025.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

HOURS after a nearby school held a peaceful demonstration over safety concerns for students, a 16-year-old Penal Secondary School student, was robbed at gunpoint as classes ended for the day on September 19.

The victim told police he was standing at the corner of Clarke Road and Oliviere Drive, Penal around 2.30 pm when two men approached him. He said one of them pulled out a gun and announced a holdup. He handed over his iPhone 14, valued at $10,000, after which the men ran away.

The victim and his mother went to the Penal Police Station and reported the robbery. Police visited the scene and are continuing enquiries.

Eight hours earlier, the St Dominic's RC Primary School's Parent Teacher Council held a demonstration less than 200 feet away from where the boy was robbed.

The parents called for the school to be rebuilt and raised several issues plaguing the students and staff. Among them were safety concerns.

Oliviere Street is home to several schools. Heading up the hill from Clarke Road is Penal Secondary, followed by Holy Faith Convent. Sharing the compound with the all-girls' school is a migrant school at the back of St Dominic's RC Church, and the church's parish hall houses the St Dominic's Primary School's infants.

The primary school was previously opposite, across Oliviere Street, but was decanted in 2017 after an earthquake compromised the building, leading to its being demolished.

The students have since been split between the church and, less than a kilometre away, the Standards One to Five students are housed at the Penal Community Centre.

During the protest, the council's president Sharon Baptiste and TT Unified Teachers' Association president Martin Lum Kin raised concerns over students' safety. Lum Kin pointed out there was no dedicated security for the infants at the church. At the community centre, he said, ongoing programmes would see adults on the premises, who were strangers to the school, with the children and would often share washrooms with the students.