THE 14-year-old Norman Manley High School student who shot and injured his 15-year-old schoolmate while showing off an illegal gun to other students in a classroom, will be sentenced next month following a guilty plea in the Gun Court yesterday.

The student pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and unlawful wounding when he appeared before Justice Roy Jones.

He will be sentenced on February 13.

A social inquiry report on the boy’s background was requested for sentencing.

Attorney-at-Law Vincent Wellesley made a bail application on behalf of his client but Jones refused, noting that it would be best for the youth to remain in custody.

According to court papers, around 4:00 pm, on January 11, a group of third-form students were hanging out in a first-form classroom on the school premises on Maxfield Avenue when a loud explosion was heard, causing some of the students to run from the room.

The victim, however, remained inside the classroom with some friends, who informed her that she had been shot after they saw blood streaming down her uniform.

She was treated at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for a gunshot wound to the arm and released the same day.

Following the incident, the boy fled to a yard not far from the school at 38 Nelson Road, off Maxfield Avenue. He then left for home in Spanish Town, St Catherine, where the police arrested him.