Minister for Education Shawn Edward has condemned as “totally outrageous, evil, and disgraceful” a violent chopping incident over the weekend in Industry, Choiseul, which left five people injured, including a five-year-old boy.
Edward identified the child as Bradley Labadie, a student of Delcer Combined School in Choiseul. The young boy sustained injuries to his right arm, while two women—aged 18 and 54—and a 62-year-old also suffered injuries during the attack.
During a press briefing on Monday, Edward said the ministry could not remain silent on the incident.
“Let me say that this is something that the Ministry of Education emphatically denounces and we condemn any act of violence in this country, particularly when it is perpetrated against children of that age,” he said.
Edward expressed hope that law enforcement would swiftly deal with the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
The minister said after learning of the incident on Saturday morning, he spoke to Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and visited Labadie at St Jude’s Hospital.
“I must say he was in very good spirits when I saw him, his mother was there with him at his bedside,” Edward remarked.
He told reporters that assistance is being provided to the child’s family through several education officials, including the Office of the Chief Education Officer, Parliamentary Secretary Pauline Antoine, District Education Officer Kay Clark Nicholas, and the principal of Delcer Combined School.
“More specifically, Mrs Joyce Eugene, who heads our counselling services unit in the Ministry of Education, has been able to mobilise her staff to ensure that we provide the requisite psychosocial support—not just to the injured child but the entire school population and anyone else in the community who might be needing that kind of intervention,” Minister Edward said.