A young man who, as a minor, fatally stabbed a fellow student at their secondary school has been remanded to Dodds Prison pending sentencing after pleading guilty to non-capital murder.
The No. 4 Supreme Court heard that 16-year-old Temario Holder died on November 8, 2019, from a cardiac injury caused by stab wounds to the chest after another student stabbed him multiple times.
The incident began on the school’s ground floor and ended in a first-floor corridor. Holder, a prefect, reportedly encountered the then 15-year-old and two other students gambling in a bathroom after morning prayers.
Holder confiscated dice and $20 from the 15-year-old, who instructed the other two students to retrieve the money. They approached one of Holder’s friends, who recovered it, but a teacher then confiscated the cash and told them the student would have to collect it from her to get it back.
At about 1 p.m., a teacher in an Upper Fifth-form class heard a loud argument between students. She went to the stairwell and saw the 15-year-old, who had skipped her class, armed with a long silver-bladed knife and charging at Holder while making stabbing motions as other students attempted to intervene.
In her statement, she said: “The stabbing motions were extremely forceful and vicious, which caused me to freeze in position because I was in disbelief that ‘X’ was capable of this type of behaviour, since from my little contact with him this term he was generally very quiet and said very little when present in class.”
The teacher said that upon realising “this was life and death” and she could no longer intervene, she ran to get the principal.
A friend of Holder who witnessed the incident said the deceased was attempting to fend off the attack.
“I quickly ran down the stairs to the ground floor and held the student by his hand and stopped him from stabbing at Temario and told him to ‘stop, stop’ and that he would get send home. The student who was fighting with Temario said: ‘I ain’t care about that,’ and he pushed me away.”
The witness said Holder attempted to flee but fell twice and was stabbed on both occasions by the 15-year-old before another student intervened.
An ambulance was summoned, but paramedics found no signs of life on arrival.
A police constable who was at the school attending to an unrelated matter saw the 15-year-old running from the premises with a knife and subdued him. Police arrested him and took him to Holetown Police Station.
During an electronic interview, conducted in the presence of attorney Shamar Bovell, his mother and grandmother, he was asked 70 questions and responded to each by saying: “I don’t have to answer or respond.”
A post-mortem examination revealed at least 12 incised wounds.
Acting Senior State Counsel Paul Prescod told the court the State could not accept a plea to a lesser offence because evidence showed Holder had repeatedly tried to escape and was pursued.
Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens accepted the facts as outlined.
The State requested that the now-22-year-old convicted man, with no previous convictions, be remanded pending sentencing.
Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell ordered a probation report, remanded him to Dodds Prison and adjourned the matter until January 25, 2027.
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