Four schoolboys who were on Tuesday collared by lawmen after a melee at a St Andrew-based high school are to face the courts to answer to charges of being armed with an offensive weapon under the Offensive Weapons (Prohibition) Act.

The four schoolboys, who are between the ages of 14 and 16, were arrested and charged following an incident on Gordon Town Road in St Andrew on Tuesday,

Reports from the police are that on Tuesday April 21, a police team was summoned to a school in the area following a physical altercation involving a group of boys.

Upon arrival, the cops quelled the dispute and confiscated three knives and a machete. The boys were taken into custody and were subsequently charged after an interview in the presence of their parents.

They are to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Family Court on Tuesday, May 19.

In Jamaica, offensive weapons are broadly defined and their presence in public places is prohibited under The Offensive Weapons (Prohibition) Act.

This legislation aims to curb violence by restricting items that can be used to inflict harm. The Act specifically lists items such as ballistic knives, butterfly knives, daggers, flick knives, knuckledusters, knuckle knives, and sword sticks as offensive weapons.

The arrest of the four boys came even as news of the stabbing death of a student of Seaforth High School in Morant Bay on Monday afternoon is still making the rounds.

In that incident which unfolded between 2:30 pm and 3:00 pm near the Morant Bay Transport Centre, the alleged attacker used a knife, reportedly purchased from a nearby establishment shortly before the confrontation, to inflict fatal injuries on his 14-year-old schoolmate Kland Doyle.

Three students were subsequently taken into police custody as investigations continue.

Ahead of that incident, prominent high school Jamaica College dominated headlines after a now-viral video emerged over the weekend showing two students viciously assaulting another boy.

That incident was one of two in recent times which catapulted the all-boys’ institution into the headlines. In the first incident a student claimed that he was attacked and beaten by a group of boys but the school’s administration labelled the incident as a fight between two boys over $2,000.

Other recent incidents in the island’s schools include a case last month when a 17-year-old boy was charged with murder following an incident that led to the death of 16-year-old Devonie Shearer of Tay Street, Ocho Rios, St Ann.

Reports from the St Ann’s Bay Police are that at about 3:00 pm on Wednesday March 4, the accused used a metal chair to hit Shearer on the head, causing a wound and rendering him unconscious. The injured boy was assisted to the hospital where he died while undergoing treatment.

The accused teen was handed over to the police later the same day and was charged on Thursday, March 5, in the presence of his parent, after eyewitness statements implicated him.