....... Two school boys remanded at Richmond hill prison
What may have been just another moment of alledged sexual excitement for two young men, each aged 17 of St Andrew, students of a secondary school in the parish, turned out to be a charge of rape, later a court appearance and eventually Richmond Hill Prison on remand, while the victim who suffered trauma and severe injuries as a result of the encounter, was hospitalized in critical condition. Both young men, one Stevon Augustine of Hope St. Andrew and Jason Belfon of Village Road Grenville St. Andrew appeared before Magistrate Jerry Seales at the Grenville Magistrate’s Court on a charge of rape.
The charge was read to them but they was not allowed to plead as the matter is an indictable one. They were told that bail on their behalf was denied therefore they were remanded to custody at the Richmond Hill prison until the 27 th March when they will be making another Court appearance. They were also told that they could apply to a Judge in Chambers to obtain bail. However following their departure from the Court one woman who could have been a relative to one of the accused, grabbed him at the top of the Court step pulling him away from the Officer, but she was pushed away by the police. She continued to make statements to the Officer calling him by name, saying that’s your nephew and you doing that”.
She then followed the accused men all the way to the station yard and was heading to the police station when she was turned away by police. Meanwhile a crowd gathered outside the Magistrate Court and opposite the Grenville police station just to get a glimpse of the accused men.
The accused men’s arrest came following the detention of four school boys all of whom are students of the institution where the incident is reported to have occurred. Two of the men were later release without a charge. The incident is said to have occurred in the boys’ toilet on the school compound , something highly condemned by the school authorities.
The victim is said to have been spotted by a teacher who later raised an alarm, which later proven that illegal activities transgresible to school authorities, was ongoing in the boys toilet involving more that one male student. The matter was later reported to the police. Meanwhile one of the accused is said to be involved in another matter of similar nature. The incident is said to have occurred in Progress Park, while the victim is said to have been sexually assaulted some three weeks before in the Mt. Horne area.
