| …as family members look for closureA post mortem examination conducted at the Woodlands Hospital on the remains of eight-year-old St Margaret’s Primary pupil, Joshua Orin Hubbard, yesterday revealed that blunt trauma to his neck was a significant contributing factor to his death.According to the autopsy report, cerebral haemorrhage, which is bleeding around or within the brain itself, was the condition leading directly to death which was brought on by a fractured spine.It is believed that the Grade Three Pupil sustained the fatal injury when he was pushed to the ground by a fellow pupil while at school on the afternoon of Thursday, February 14, 2013. There are reports that the pupil who pushed him was first pushed by another before colliding with Joshua.However all such allegations were yesterday emphatically dispelled by the school’s Head Teacher, Ms Georgiana Lewis,NFL Jerseys Supply, who said that not only was the incident not reported to the school on the day in question but that she was not even made aware of it until after the death of the child.She added that on the day of the incident she was at an all-day workshop at the Cyril Potter College of Education. She said that she only returned to normal school yesterday since she had been engaged in other warranted duties.Lewis however disclosed that an investigation into the matter has been officially launched by the school. “I don’t have all the answers and I will not respond to anything until I know what really happened.”She was adamant that had the child been seriously injured at school someone, even the parent, would have known that something was amiss early on. She said too that one pupil claimed to have seen the incident.However, father of the deceased child, Orin Hubbard, argued yesterday that his son had suffered no injury before or after the incident at his school on Valentine’s Day. He believes that his son’s demise was a direct result of an attack by a school bully.There are reports that the attacking pupil, also in Grade Three, had targeted Joshua in order to relieve him of a rose he (Joshua) had purchased for his mother, Annette Roxanne Hubbard, for Valentine’s Day.This version of the incident was corroborated by the senior Hubbard who while speaking to this publication yesterday said that his son had not spent his allowance for the day in order to fulfil the loving gesture.According to the man who is employed as a driver at the Windjammer Hotel he was on the day of the incident a bit late in picking up his son from school.He recalled that he dropped him off as usual in the morning but was tasked with transporting food at Parliament buildings the same afternoon since his employer is contracted to prepare meals for each parliamentary sitting.“I couldn’t come and wait for him because I had food to deliver so after I deliver then I called him to see where he was and told him I am on my way.”The man said that the first thing he observed when he picked up his son was that he had a rose that was damaged and immediately enquired about it. At this point the man said that his son informed him that another pupil had pushed him down for the rose.Recognising the importance of the rose, Hubbard said that he helped his son to fix the rose but failed to ask him the name of the pupil who pushed him.According to the man because of the late hour that he arrived for his son he was not able to report the incident to the school. The man recalled though that when he dropped his son home he played as though all was normal, did his home work and prepared his school books for the following day.He then ate his dinner, took a bath and brushed his teeth, his father informed, even as he recounted that the child had also related the incident to his mother. “He told her too how this boy pushed him down at school but he didn’t say that he was feeling any pain…”The man said that after making a drop at the airport he returned home around 02:00 hours the following day. “When I reached home I hear my son hollering. I never hear me son holler so hard…never; he was crying for he head and belly and we decide to rub him with Limacol.”The man said that both he and his wife prayed for the child and shortly after his eyes started to “turn-up.” Assuming that the child was experiencing a seizure, the man said that he placed a finger into his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue.The child’s condition did not improve and this led to the man requesting the assistance of one of his daughter’s, Shameka Hubbard, who tested the child for a pulse and found none.It was at this point the man said that he rushed the child to the Woodland’s Hospital for medical attention where he was pronounced dead around 03:00 hours.According to the man, he has since been advised to report the incident to the Alberttown Police Station to have the matter investigated.According to the dead child’s eldest sister, Shamaine Nurse, while the intent is not to have anybody arrested or charged there is need for other parents to be aware of what transpired and more care and caution be taken in the school environment.“We just need to know what happened…that is all we are trying to find out and nobody is telling us the facts,” complained Nurse.The child’s aunt, Ms Ann DeRouche, who was also at the school, said that although nothing can be done to change the outcome of the incident, she was, as at yesterday morning dissatisfied with the response that was forthcoming from the school.She said that Joshua had on occasions informed one of his cousins that one of his classmates would usually bully him while at school but the teacher had never given heed to numerous complaints.“The head teacher is not giving us any good response about this matter; it’s as if she is just trying to shade something…she is just negative,” DeRouche added.Yesterday the head teacher met with the parents and pupils who were reportedly involved in the unfortunate incident. There are reports that she was also engaged in a meeting with officials from the Education Ministry.Joshua who is the last of four children is expected to be buried on Friday. He was described by relatives as a very loving and jovial child who did not deserve such an abrupt halt to his life. |
