School Fight between Machete-wielding Man and Students under Investigation
It’s not the kind of news any parent expects to hear, that their child was involved in a brawl at school that ended up with them being sent home. It’s worse when the fight involved a sharp-edged tool, such as a machete. This was the case at Ladyville Technical High School on Wednesday when a fight erupted between a machete-wielding man and few of the students who used metal chairs to ward him off. News Five’s Marion Ali went in search of answers and discovered that the scuffle was allegedly the result of continued harassment by the students. The labourer, reportedly of Franks Eddy Village, was hired as part of a crew to work on a compound adjacent to the school. Here’s that report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This video shows a man, wearing a hat and armed with a machete, approaching a group of students on the school grounds. He advances toward the students, wielding the machete, walks up to an individual and points the machete at another, who held a folded metal chair.
This video shows a different angle of the confrontation. The man raises the machete and approaches the student him and his colleague, whom he had initially approached, intervenes. The man with the machete once again focuses his attention on the student who is armed with a folded chair. The labourer reaches for the student’s throat and a scuffle begins. He then raises the machete but the other student hits him with a folded chair. A third student joins the brawl and hits the man. More students join in to try to defend their fellow schoolmates. The man appears to try to swing the machete, now held high above his head, but one of the students wrestles with him and gets the upper hand.
This other video shows the man, who had by this time lost his hat, scuffling with one of the students before he is struck with a folded metal chair, which he took possession of and chases off the students. The man, we understand, was part of a crew hired to demolish an old fence and to build a new one on a compound occupied by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing. That compound sits adjacent to the Ladyville Technical High School. So, is this a case of the students bullying an outsider working nearby?
Voice of: MIDH Employee
“What they reported to me is that this worker was verbally abused by the students for days, and it seems he had gotten enough and then that’s why he went over to the other side of the fence. From there, I just saw that he was in custody of police when I arrived.”
Marion Ali
“How, though, if you are separated by a distance from the school itself.”
Voice of: MIDH Employee
“Well, our compound – there’s a fence that’s literally between the school and the compound, and that fence is a part of the fence that we’re rebuilding. So this worker, from what I have understood, was cleaning the vegetation along the fence so that they can remove the old fence and rebuild a new fence.”
Marion Ali
“Okay, when the students…”
Voice of: MIDH Employee
“Well, this is what they told me, that he was there next to that fence and that’s where he was verbally abused by students.”
We reached out to the Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca who said that they are aware of the incident and that the Belize District Education Center is carrying out an investigation into the matter. The minister informed that based on their recommendations, School authorities will take appropriate action. He reiterated the ministry’s zero-tolerance policy for violence on school campuses. Meanwhile, News Five understands that the man has been taken into police custody and the students who were involved in the brawl were not at school today. Marion Ali for News Five.
