Attorney says Irwin student in custody didn't introduce knife into deadly stabbing incident

The attorney for the 14-year-old boy who is in custody in relation to the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Irwin High School student, Raniel Plummer, is urging members of the public not to jump to premature conclusions about the incident.

Attorney Maurice McCurdy says while online reports have referred to his client as an attacker, the 14-year-old boy was not the person who introduced the knife into the situation.

"I will not join the discourse to malign any child in the public domain. My heart goes out to all the families involved, however, given that there is credible information to suggest  that the knife was not introduced by the child in custody, we ought to be more mature in dealing and reporting on these matters," McCurdy told The Gleaner.

"We need to ensure we don't exploit the grief of one family to the detriment of another," he added.

McCurdy also expressed concern about threats being made in relation to the child in custody.

"I have seen videos labelling the child as an attacker, an assailant and an aggressor. This is reckless and dangerous of the media. As a natural consequence of the same, I have also seen social media users suggesting violence to a child based on being misled by premature reporting," he stated.

McCurdy said the families of both boys are in distress at this time.

The Montego Bay police have stated that Plummer was approached and attacked by a group of students after exiting the grounds of the St James-based high school. During the assault, the police said that Plummer was stabbed in the chest by a 14-year-old male student.

It is alleged that the incident stemmed from an earlier altercation.

The injured boy was transported to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he died while receiving treatment.

In the meantime, the accused boy was taken to the nearby Meadows of Irwin Police Post on Friday afternoon by his parents.

- Ashley Anguin

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