WESTERN BUREAU:
ROCKED BY the death of their bursar, the staff of Hopewell High School in Hanover will remain at home today while the board of management plans to host an emergency meeting to enhance security at the educational institution.
The school was plunged into mourning on Wednesday afternoon due to the unexpected murder of 35-year-old Jermaine Roberts, who had been managing the school’s finances for the past six years. Roberts’ death brings the number of persons killed in Hanover, a parish under the state of emergency (SOE), to three.
The enhanced security measures end tomorrow, two weeks after the Government announced SOEs for Hanover, St Catherine, Clarendon, and St James.
Byron Grant, the school’s principal who was on the school compound when the incident occurred, was seriously injured when he ran into broken glass shattered during the shooting and has been admitted to the hospital.
According to reports, Roberts was attacked by a lone gunman who approached his car and fired shots, killing him on the spot.
“The incident has left teachers and ancillary workers at the school traumatised and in need of counselling,” said Dalton Hastings, chairman of the board of management, who expressed being still in a state of shock as he explained the situation.
Hastings described the incident as troubling and scary, expressing concern that criminal elements no longer have any regard for the school environment.
“For someone to come on the school compound to carry out a shooting is beyond me,” he sighed.
Acknowledging that as a country, the high crime rate is something that citizens, particularly schools, are grappling with, he said an emergency meeting of the board has been called for today.
“I don’t know what happened, why Mr Roberts was shot, but we will have to beef up security,” he added.
The school board chairman said Roberts was a jovial, hard-working, and approachable individual, well respected in his field. “He had a good rapport with his team.”
Roberts resided in Pitfour, St James, but was originally from St Thomas.
Efforts to get a comment at the time from the superintendent in charge of Hanover, Ian Mowatt, did not materialise. When The Gleaner called him, he said he was in the middle of the investigation and would make a statement today (Thursday).
Hanover has had 69 murders since the start of the year, compared to 44 in 2022, reflecting an increase of 54 per cent.