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Tonight there are disturbing reports that at least eight primary school students from Belize City were all beaten by a Police Constable after he made a visit to their school. When 7NEWS contacted the Commander of Eastern Division Senior Superintendent of Police David Henderson he did confirm that one PC Scott has been temporarily removed from the ZBLO Unit pending the outcome of an investigation following a report made by the parents of one of the students he allegedly harmed with a nylon rope.

Well today Giovanna Fuller visited our studios with her twelve year old son. According to Fuller the children all standard five students were called by the principal and spoken to about stone throwing that some of the boys have been doing in school. According to Fuller that is what the police constable who was assigned to that school was supposed to have spoken to the children about.

Fuller claims that at no time was the principal, a teacher or any other school representative was present when the PC was with the students and by the time it was all over her son had to be taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where a medical examination confirmed his injuries as harm. She told us what her son experienced.

Giovanna Fuller, Mother of Alleged Victim
“He complained of pain in his lower abdomen and on his lower back on his side. The pain related right across straight to his back and he kept throwing up his meals.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
You think him to the hospital, what did the doctor tell you and your husband?

Giovanna Fuller,
“The doctor sent him for a chest x-ray. Because of the amount of pain he was having she was concerned that he any broken ribs. The x-ray showed no broken ribs but she was still concerned because the pain was too much for him. So she gave him an injection that was to have helped with the muscular pain and she gave him medication to counteract the nausea of him keeping bringing up his food. She also gave a paper for an ultrasound the following morning which we did.

The officer had them in the room, lined them up, knocked them on the back of their heads after which he whipped them, put them across a desk, whipped them with a rope behind their backs and butts, and he had them put their feet up on the chair, hands on the floor in a push-up position and they could not have dropped or raise too high otherwise he would take the nylon rope, which he produced out of his pocket when he was in the room, and he whipped them across their butts and their backs if they went too low or if they went too high.”

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“He took one of my friends and put him against the table like up to a bookshelf, he actually pushed him up to the book shelf and he bent him over the table and he put his cap a distance from the table and told him to try and reach the cap and every time he tried it he would whip him on the behind.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
What happened to you?

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“Me and my friends, side by side, were put on a chair, our feet in a push-up position, our foots on the chair, hands on the ground and we were supposed to hold our body weight for an amount of time.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
And if you didn’t?

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“If you were too low he said you would land on something hard and he would put his foot up, his toe pint up, and if you go too hard he would either kick you back up in the stomach or he would lash you back down with rope.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Were you hit with a rope?

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“Yes mam.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Describe the rope, what kind of rope?

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“A nylon white rope, doubled in two and was used to whip us.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
And you have no reason to lie or to make up this story?

12 Year old Alleged Victim,
“No mam.”

Giovanna Fuller,
“The principal told Officer Henderson that she will take the blame, that she was not in the room with the PC when the incident occurred. She showed him a room where he could go speak with them but she did not go with them in the room. She didn’t really look into the matter, she didn’t report the matter to the police, she didn’t call any officer to ask or to come and see about what went on. So she didn’t look into the matter when my child reported it to her. She told that to Officer Henderson that she would take the blame for that. If we could prevent this from happening to another child, we don’t know what’s going on out there and the fact the principal did not look into it is what concerns me most. What if there are other principals like that who get reports and don’t follow up on it. What are we teaching our children. We are following up on this and this is what we informed Mr. Henderson on Tuesday, that we are pressing charges on that officer and we are following up on it. It is not just going to go like that. We cannot let it go just like that. How can we, what am I going to be teaching my child if I do that? It is okay for an officer to beating up on you for no reason?"

When 7NEWS contacted the principal of Grace Primary School she was very displeased with us running the story but did tell us that the complaint is untrue. Another representative of the District Education Office confirmed that they are investigating but told us we are getting only one side of the story. The department will not be able to fill in the other side until its investigation is completed.

Just before Giovanna Fuller spoke to 7NEWS this evening she was informed by her husband that he had just received a phone call from the school stating that because she came to the media, papers are now being drawn to transfer her two children, but this has not been confirmed. Fuller says because they are now concerned that there will be repercussions for the family, they have no choice but to transfer the kids.