School boy robbed at knife point in minibus
It was during the morning rush hour, Aaron Sookwah, was sitting in the back seat of a route #41 minibus, all prepared for classes. His stop to the recently relocated Brickdam Secondary School was just a few corners away on Mandela Avenue.
“The next thing I know, the man sitting next to me pulled out a knife and stuck it to my side. Then he told me to give him my bag,” the 14-year-old told Kaieteur News.
Even though the bus was full, with his teacher sitting in the seat in front of him, Sookwah said he was too frightened to raise an alarm.
“I just take off my bag, and leave it, and somehow, I managed to tell the conductor to stop me off by the (East La Penitence) police station, because that is where my school is now – behind the station,” the teen said.
He explained that the bandit allowed him to exit the bus.
“After I come out and the bus drove off, I see one ah my friends, and I tell him everything that happen.”
All the while, his teacher, who was also in the bus, had been oblivious to what had occurred.
“My teacher does usually stop off at the corner after the station, because she says it closer to school, so she came out of the bus after me,” the young man said.
He added, “By the time I reach to school, I see my teacher and I tell her wha happened.”
The teen was then accompanied to the nearby police station where a report of the incident was made.
The child’s mother, Karen Sookwah, also made a report to the Ministry of Education.
“They said that they will look into it…I wanted them to know what is happening, because I know of many school children being robbed. It is a sad thing,” she related.
The woman is concerned that the Brickdam school has been relocated to a community that “is known to be criminal infested.”
“I really hope that they would remove this school from here,” the woman said.
She maintained, “The school being located next to a police station is no consolation.”
“After the crime is committed, you go there and make a report. That’s it. Nothing else really happens.