JC student stabbed amid 700+ weapons seized in HWT in past month

More than 700 weapons have been confiscated from people in the Half-Way Tree town centre since August 16, including a few taken from schoolchildren, as the police seek to curb violence in the busy St Andrew commercial hub.

The disclosure came on Wednesday from commander of the St Andrew Central Police Division, Superintendent Mark Harris, hours after a Jamaica College (JC) student was stabbed near a gas station on Constant Spring Road.

The student, who was stabbed about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, was reportedly treated at hospital and released. Detectives assigned to the St Andrew Central Police Division were still gathering information late yesterday to identify the perpetrators.

On Wednesday, Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon said her ministry is reviewing a preliminary report into the stabbing.

“We don’t have all the details in terms of what has happened. We are in communication with the principal of the school,” she said during a post-Cabinet media briefing.

She said she planned to contact the school’s principal and board chair following the briefing and had also reached out to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, adding that the ministry would provide any necessary support to the school.

DESPITE POLICE PRESENCE

Harris said the latest incident occurred despite a heightened police presence in and around Half-Way Tree since the start of the new school year.

“We have been in the space right through. This just happened a little further up the road from where the police were at the time,” he said, noting that the police have been monitoring students heading home after school, but acknowledged the difficulty of preventing individual attacks.

More than nine people have also been arrested for possession of offensive weapons over the last month, Harris said, explaining that not all of the more than 700 items confiscated would necessarily meet the legal classification of an offensive weapon.

“Some of the weapons are scissors, razor blades, and some of those things that might not really reach the threshold of an offensive weapon, but we know these are meant to be used as weapons,” he said.

Harris said the police have also confiscated items such as golf clubs when they believe they could be used as weapons.

“For example, the golf club, you wouldn’t really charge someone for the golf club. But we will confiscate that from him,” he said.

“Ratchet knives and dinner knives are different. But for the scissors and razor blades, carving knives, those things are different,” Harris said.

Despite the volume of weapons being confiscated, Harris said there have so far been only three reported stabbing incidents in and around the Half-Way Tree town centre during the intensified operation.

He said one other incident involved a man who robbed a woman with a knife, subsequently attacked the police, and was subsequently fatally shot by the police. Except for shock and trauma, the woman suffered minor injuries.

The police commander said officers have been paying particular attention to students congregating at bus stops and other areas after school, where disputes can escalate.

The police are appealing to anyone with information about Tuesday’s stabbing to come forward and assist with the investigation.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com