14 yr. old’s jaw broken in fight to wash car
Tonight a primary school student is still in severe pain after he was viciously beaten and left with a broken jaw more than a week ago. On March twenty-third, fourteen year old Jermaine Arnold, a student of Saint Ignatius School decided to spend his first day of the Easter holidays washing cars to earn spending money. Arnold decided to go to the parking lot of the Supreme Court building, but right after he was asked to wash a car, someone else wanted to work so badly, they beat the boy until the bones on both sides of his mouth shattered. Today, with extreme difficulty, Arnold told News 5 his story.
Jermaine Arnold
“This man ask me fi wash ih car and this boy just got wah argument fi wash ih car, so he just punch me and bruk my jaw. He bruk two part a my jaw.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Why did he punch you?”
Jermaine Arnold
“Because he had a argument fi wash wah car.”
The man in question has already been identified, but due to Arnold’s condition, he has not been able to complete the police report. Because of the severe damage caused to the teenager’s mouth, it is urgent he receives medical treatment as soon as possible. The boy’s mother, Carol Rogers, who has three other children, says she cannot afford the operation necessary for her son to regain his normal speech.
Carol Rogers, Jermaine’s Mother
“It’s only one doctor, Dr. Samos of the Belize City hospital attend to ah right now. He says ih jaw cannot be fixed in Belize, we have to take him to Merida. And the cost of the operation is five thousand dollars without accommodation fi we. So I just di beg di public fu assistance so I could take him to Merida to fix his jaw because it’s the two sides of his jaw bruk. So if anybody out there can give me a pledge so I can get this money to take him, cause the thing have to done quickly so that he can go back to school because he’s a student at St. Ignatius school.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“What happened to the guy who broke his jaw?”
Carol Rogers
“They mi have ah dah the [police] station. I no know if they let a go yet or what, but Jermaine has to give an identification of the boy so that the case can go head.”
If you would like to assist Jermaine Arnold with monetary donations, please call telephone number 02-76516.
