DEESIDE, Trelawny – Firebrand clergyman Bishop Ralston Thompson of the Deeside New Testament Church of God wants the punishment for the killer of 16-year-old William Knibb Memorial High School student Khamal Hall, who was stabbed to death in an alleged dispute over a so-called guard ring, to be life in prison.

A 16-year-old student has been charged with murder in connection with the incident, which occurred during the lunch break at the Trelawny school on Monday, March 21.

“My brothers and sisters, if it is okay for an individual to kill another because of a guard ring then in my eyes it is okay for that individual to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Bishop Thompson declared.

“I declare even now that God will allow justice to be served in this matter and we place it before God in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

The clergyman, who was one of the officiating ministers at a thanksgiving service for the life of Hall held at the Deeside New Testament Church of God last Saturday, expressed that the entire Deeside community is hurting, adding that he is saddened whenever he hears the “guard ring” being pushed at the forefront of any conversation regarding the student’s death.

“My brothers and sisters, when I hear the story at times it hurts me — the story that surrounds the situation why we are here. Sometimes when you listen to the radio whenever they say a schoolboy that was stabbed, then you hear was stabbed over a guard ring. And then it’s sad to hear the emphasis is on the guard ring and there is a family that is mourning the loss of a son, the loss of a nephew…there is a community that is mourning the life of a young man with great prospects. He lived just behind the church,” the man of the cloth stated.

“I know that this community is hurting. I have a lot of young men playing dominoes and every night near our church…the very day when Khamal was murdered when we called devotion if you dropped a pin on the ground you could hear it.”

Community relations education officer for the Ministry of Education’s Region 3, Delroy Williams, underscored at the thanksgiving service that whenever the character education being mooted by Education Minister Fayval Williams is introduced, then “we will produce ladies and gentlemen in a gentler society”.

“A call from Minister of Education Fayval Williams to introduce character education in our schools is quite appropriate in light of the situation which resulted in the untimely death of young Khamal. According to the minister, character education will teach students how to interact properly with their teachers, and all students in and out of the classroom,” Williams said.

“Children will be taught ethics, honesty, respect, responsibility, accountability and all good moral values that make them upstanding citizens. Because our students spend so much time in school, there is a perfect place to teach character education.”

But while Bishop Thompson conceded that character training is of the utmost importance, he stressed that “the spirit of God must be in the educational system”.

“Society has created a lot of mess for our children. It seems at times there is no place for God. One whole day at school, 15 minutes of devotion and children chat out five minutes of it,” Thompson told the mourners.

He lashed out at parents who he accused of teaching their children the “things that are not godly”.

“Lord God, Almighty, they (parents) are leading them (children) in all sorts of nastiness because they want them to get rich. But in order for you to come out of poverty, it is going to take a good education. Anything the devil gives you, it comes with penalty,” the clergyman argued.

The churchman also took a swipe at Prime Minister Andrew Holness for his stance against corporal punishment.

In fact, he argued that there should be specially designated teachers in schools to mete out corporal punishment to recalcitrant students.

“I pray for the teachers and principals because sometimes some of these children go into the classrooms them well guard up, guard up. When you can have so many minds in one place and you going take corporal punishment out of school, Mr Prime Minister, you wrong. I believe there should be persons assigned, not anybody must put their hands on a child, but there must be persons assigned,” he argued.

Sergeant Wayne Wallace, who represented the Trelawny Police Division, attributed Hall’s untimely death to indiscipline and the general lack of respect for law and order.

“We are here today [Saturday] because of the indiscipline and the cruel hearts of our society. We are here today because men’s hearts are cruel. Some children of today have no respect for law and order and authority,” he bemoaned.

“We are here also to celebrate the life of this young man [Hall],” Sergeant Wallace added.

Hall represented his school in the 2022 daCosta Cup football competition.

Dwight Jeremiah, the team’s coach, reflected that throughout the season, Hall improved by leaps and bounds.

“…he left us with so much hope… when he was injured [stabbed] and going to the hospital he was talking in the car and his last conversation was about that Dinthill game that he was a stand out for us. We lost it but it would have been worse had it not been for his heroics. And that was how he wanted us to remember him because that was what he said to all of us when we were taking him to hospital,” Jeremiah stated.

During the service, Hall’s football jersey, which had the signature of all members of the school’s football squad, was presented to his bereaved mother Natasha Roach and brother David Swaby.

Meanwhile, the Jamaica Observer West was told by an officer assigned to the Trelawny Police Division that Hall’s accused killer was granted bail when he recently appeared in court.

“But, for his safety, he has left the parish and we cannot mention the next court date,” the policeman added.