Three students jailed after ‘school fight’

The First High Criminal Court yesterday sentenced three high school students, who caused a permanent disability to a fellow student after beating him up in school, to three years of imprisonment, it was announced yesterday. Family and Child Prosecution Chief Prosecutor Zainab Sulaiman confirmed in a statement issued yesterday that the boys were also ordered to pay BD1,000 in compensation, while a fourth student who was initially accused of being involved in the crime was acquitted by the court.

The details of the case showed that the incident took place last November, when the victim was hit by the first defendant while inside Shaikh Isa Secondary Boys’ School in Isa Town. According to the victim’s statement, three other students joined the first defendant and attacked him, without specifying any reason. The victim also told prosecutors that the same group, along with more students, attacked him inside the classroom on the next day, using school chairs.

The victim said he was hit multiple times for a period of three minutes on the head, face and shoulders, before he managed to escape from the beating. The coroner’s report showed that the victim suffered from several injuries that included partial retinal detachment in the retina of the right eye.

One of the injuries, according to the coroner, is considered a permanent disability that is estimated to be 13 per cent and has affected his eyesight. As reported by Tribune earlier, the victim’s father had demanded a compensation of BD1,000 in the court, which previously released the four defendants after ordering them to pay BD100 bail each.