Newtown Primary vandalized, ‘hooliganism’ suspected

Staff Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS-Newtown Primary School students told SKNVibes.com that they felt “scared” this morning (May 22nd) when they reported for classes and found several of their classrooms vandalized.
 
Sylvester Charles, Head Teacher for the school, stated that “the leading theory of the Police right now is that this incident might have had something to do with the Village/Newtown football match last night.”

Charles said that he was made aware of the incident at around 5 a.m. this morning by the school’s security personnel. Though the watchman had been on duty all night, it is believed that he was patrolling the north side of the school when the assault on the southern side of the grounds was taking place.

“We had five classrooms broken into. Their windows were smashed and the teacher’s desks were ransacked, papers and things thrown everywhere,” said Charles. “There were also a number of rooms that had their locks broken off, though there doesn’t appear to be any vandalism to those rooms.”

Upon investigation SKNVibes.com also discovered that several vulgarities and the word “West” were scratched into several windows on the southern-most building of the school.

While no items were stolen, Charles stated that he found the incident “utterly disgusting” and an incomprehensible attack on the children’s education.

“We have our standardized tests coming up in two weeks, and an incident like this really interrupts our preparation. What I don’t understand is why someone would do this to the children,” Charles said.  ~~Adz:Left~~

“If it was related to the football match, I don’t understand why someone would take it out on the school. The students had nothing to do with the game.”

SKNVibes.com spoke to one Village fan who stated that, while Village fans were disappointed about last night’s championship loss, the crowd was generally subdued and accepting of the outcome.

“It wasn’t like last year where the Village fans were really into it and the players were attacking each other like it was WWF. Even though both championship matches went into overtime this year, it didn’t seem like the crowd was out of control or violent. No one even ran onto the field when Newtown won,” said the fan.

This marks the third incident this year of classes being interrupted due to violent activity.
On May 14th, classes at the Washington Archibald High School had to be temporarily suspended while members of the Police Force searched the school following a bomb threat, and on March 3rd George Moody Stuart Primary School also had several classrooms broken into and ransacked.

Charles stated that this was the first incidence of its type to happen at the Newtown Primary since he had become Head Teacher of the facility and that he wanted to harshly “admonish those persons who threaten the children and their education.” He also took time to thank the Police Force for their quick response after he filed his report.