The mother of 16-year-old Conique Hall, the student of Charlemont High School who was allegedly beaten into a coma by schoolmates and outsiders, is demanding answers from the school’s administration regarding who will be held accountable and what will happen to her child who has been absent from school since the incident occurred on November 7.

“I still haven’t heard from the school or the principal. I don’t know what’s going on. They are saying what I am saying is not true. My daughter was taken from the school unconscious and spent time at Linstead Hospital. The principal has not reached out and spoken to anyone from the family and neither has anyone from the school. I need answers, I need answers. These are the people who brought my unconscious child from the school to the hospital. I still want to know what is going on. The school hasn’t called anyone into any meeting,” a distraught Alena Campbell told the Jamaica Observer.

Campbell, who is also a past student of Charlemont High, said she is disappointed with how the matter has been handled and the school she once bragged was the best, is now nonsense.

“The principal is talking on a matter they have no knowledge about. My child is scared. These men are walking around and they threatened her. My child passed for that school, she was not transferred or brought in. She lives in the community, she is entitled and furthermore she is very involved. I am really in awe. The principal escalated the issue. He didn’t consult me to find out what is going on. How can you be dealing with a matter and not speak to anyone in the family? I am reading where he said he spoke to the father and her father says he didn’t. She plays netball, she is on the choir, she is a very active child. Why haven’t you invested in her health? I should not have to go this far for her to get attention. If the principal hadn’t gone and said I was lying without speaking to the family, this would be a different situation. I am the one who spends the money to get my child all the necessary things done,” she said, outlining that she has spent over $25,000 so far on medical expenses incurred following the beating of her child.

She added: “She is still complaining of headaches, she says her eyes are still blurry from the beating. I am the only one fitting all the bills. I still want to know what’s going on. The doctors say she is okay but you know things do happen long term. I have not heard about an arrest and she (Hall) is really scared. The police say they are doing an investigation but still no arrest. Grown men were involved too. I am trying to get the motive and no one is talking. What escalate this thing? Where is it coming from? Who are these girls? I know my daughter was left unconscious after being beat up by multiple people. The video went out Sunday (November 10). My child was beaten from Thursday afternoon and no one contacted me to find out. It’s a shame I have to go this route.”

Further, Campbell is considering home schooling her child for the duration of the school year, but she is also calling on the education ministry to intervene in the matter as her child is due to sit her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations come May 2020.

“I want the Ministry of Education to tell me how my daughter education is going to go. She pay her CXC fee already, how is she going to sit her CXC?

“How is the remainder of her schooling going to go? She has couple months before graduation, but most importantly how is her CXC going? I have paid that money already. I am not hearing from the school so I really want to know what is going to happen to her education and her CXC,” said Campbell.

Attempts to speak with Garth Gayle, principal of Charlemont High, were unsuccessful as calls made to the institution over two days last week either went unanswered or the person who answered said that Gayle was locked in day-long meetings or had already left the compound.

Dr Grace McLean, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, said the ministry would prepare a response on the matter and disseminate to the media.

Meanwhile, Campbell said her child has been left traumatised by the incident and she is worried that she is not physically able to provide emotional support.

“This thing is very traumatising for her. This disrupt her entire life. I am really worried. I am worried a lot because I am not there to give her emotional support to hug her and tell her it is going to be okay. People threatened her. A taxi man say she is suppose to get gunshot. For a child to go through such an ordeal she needs to get counselling. I want to see justice served and my child get proper health care,” said Campbell.