Mother of beaten teen: I am not sending my child back to that school

Vidya Lal, mother of the Carapichaima West Secondary School student who was beaten – along with a maxi driver – on Monday says she will never send him back to that school ever again.

She said she wants justice for her son and for those responsible for hurting him to be held accountable.

After school finished, students of both the Carapichaima West and East Secondary schools planned to beat up 16-year-old Rasheed Lal.

The driver of the maxi he was in, Varindra Singh, tried to intervene but was beaten along with Lal. Both suffered several injuries.

Lal said her son is in a lot of pain, cannot raise his arms and several parts of his body are blue-black and swollen.

She said at around 1am on Thursday, an ambulance was called to their home because her son could not breathe well.

To date, she said only the vice principal of her son's school had contacted her.

"Nobody saying or doing anything for my child. We have to do everything for ourselves.

"I'm a single mom and I need help and I need justice."

Her son is a US citizen, so she made a report to the US embassy, which told her it will investigate.

She said the issue stemmed from an earlier incident at Carapichaima West, in which a male student was trying to hit a female student, and his son blocked and protected her. This, she said, angered the male student, who hit her son in the face. Rasheed returned the blows.

Lal was then called to come to the school and overheard the other student tell her son: "This not over." and that he would be waiting for Rasheed after school.

After school, a group of about seven students pulled Rasheed out of the maxi he was in. This was when the driver tried to assist.

Videos of the incident have gone viral on social media and show the two on the ground being repeatedly kicked and beaten.

Lal said one of the students told Rasheed he was fighting on behalf of his cousin.

"This was very unfair, because it wasn't one on one – it was a gang.

"They didn't want to beat my child, they wanted to kill my child. Because it could never be all these children for one child and the van (maxi) driver."

She hailed Singh as a hero, adding that, unfortunately, Rasheed is blaming himself for everything and has even been crying.

"I'm so grateful for him. If (it) wasn't for him, my son would have been dead.

"My son is taking it like it is his fault.

"It's nobody's fault, because nobody knew this was going to happen."

Asked by Newsday if she had seen the video of the incident, she said, "I saw little pieces. I don't really want to look at the video, because it's too much. I can't take it. I don't want to look at a video where my child is being beaten like that."

She said Rasheed, a form four student, has never been in a fight before.

The incident is under police investigation.

Asked by Newsday what outcome would make her feel safe to send Rasheed back to this school, she said, "I am not sending my child back to that school. Never. After I saw what happened...he's out of school for now.

"If they could do it now, just imagine when they (get) older what is going to happen. What they going to become? They will be killers? They will be murderers? What they will be?"

Calls and messages to Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and the Carapichaima West Secondary School all went unanswered up to press time.