Knife attack on SWESBUS student: We are not enthused by headmaster’s response – Family of victim

The family of a Swedru Business Senior High School student who suffered a knife attack in the hands of some school mates, say they are unhappy with response of the headmaster of the school to the incident.

Ishmael Agyei, who is a final year student of SWESBUS was attacked by a group of his schoolmates following an altercation.

The student who suffered stab wounds in his chest and on his arms appeared on GhanaWeb TV’s #SayItLoud where he shared his traumatic experience and the effects the attack has left on his life.

Speaking on the same show, an uncle of the student, Wahab Ishmael explained to host, George Ayisi, how the family has been finding it hard to get the school authorities to take action.

“The family met, we wanted to discuss the issue and so we met in consultation with a lawyer. And he advised that, given the fact that its an attempt on the boy’s life, he advised that we should report the matter to the police and that we should send the matter to court for it to be addressed.

“On Friday, we went to the school and as courteous as we were, we went to meet the headmaster and we made him aware of our intentions to report the matter to the police and proceed to court. When we met him, to be honest with you, I wasn’t enthused by his response and for two hours he kept asking that we shouldn’t report the matter to the police,” he stated.

Wahab said the headmaster of SWESBUS justified his insistence for the case to be dropped because “given the fact that the boy seems to be getting better, that should be where our focus should be. He’s getting better so that solves part of the problem. That is his opinion. But I told him that is how he feels about it. As far as the family is concerned, it goes beyond just him getting well.”

Wahab who tagged the attack on his nephew as an attempted murder, noted that the headmaster assured the family of the perpetrators being de-boardinised from the school as a punishment. But Wahab noted that the family is yet to be made aware of such action being taken since the February 28, 2022, attack.

“I feel that if someone commits a crime, which is an attempted murder; and I know that by the statutes in this country it is felony, a crime which I know it is supposed to be serious crime. So if someone does this and the punishment you want to prefer is to debordenise the student, then what are you teaching the other students to do?” the victim’s uncle questioned.

For the family, it is hopeful a criminal complaint lodged with the Swedru Police on the attack, leads to the arrest of the perpetrators and their eventual prosecution for the physical and emotional trauma suffered by their son.