CECIL Thoms, the Nationwide reporter/producer who was stabbed by a robber on Thursday, was released from hospital yesterday.

Thoms, according to the police, was walking along Halifax Avenue in St Andrew when he was attacked by a young man who rode up on a bicycle and demanded that he give him $500. Thoms reportedly refused the robber’s request and walked off in the direction of East Kings House Road.

The youngster, said the police, then pulled out a ratchet knife and stabbed Thoms in the shoulder

and side, and chased the bleeding journalist onto the premises of a nearby upscale apartment complex. Despite bleeding profusely, Thoms was reportedly told by a security guard at the housing development to leave the premises as he would not get any assistance there.

The journalist then stumbled onto the premises of a nearby businessplace where he collapsed and lay bleeding for about half an hour before he was given assistance and taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Thoms was admitted overnight and was released yesterday morning after being treated for his injuries.

Yesterday, the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) said the attack on the journalist reflected the moral decay which has been plaguing the society, and an indication of the depth to which crime and violence has engulfed the society.

“This incident cannot be tolerated and we urge the authorities to ensure that those who seek to pounce upon our citizens and do harm to them are inflicted with the necessary punishment under the full force of the law,” said PAJ president Desmond Richards.