As her 16-year-old son appeared yesterday in the Couva Magistrates Court for the murder of schoolboy Renaldo Dixon, Tricia Bruce publicly apologised to the slain boy’s family. Bruce spoke with the media in front of the Couva Magistrates Court minutes after the police brought her son Jonathan Bruce to court. The mother, who was accompanied by attorney Mervyn Mitchell, said she did not apologise earlier because she had received death threats.
Jonathan, a Form Five student at the Waterloo Secondary School, was arrested last week Monday after Dixon, a Form Three student, was stabbed to death at the school during an argument during the morning recess. Dixon, 14, of Chase Village, Chaguanas, was pronounced dead at the Freeport Health Facility. Both boys had exams that day. Dixon was writing National Certificate of Secondary Examination while Jonathan was writing Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams.
Jonathan, of Freeport, was charged on Monday night by Sgt Andy Mohammed after instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. He hid his face with a towel as police led him into the courthouse. Outside the court, Bruce told reporters: “I am making a public apology to the child’s parents, the child’s family and to everybody who concerns him, for my son’s involvement in this.” She said she did not send condolences earlier because she had received death threats.
Told that Dixon’s mother said she held no animosity towards her, Bruce said, “She did not know what was going on, sir.” She also distanced her church, Bethel House of God, from any involvement in the matter. Jonathan said nothing when Senior Magistrate Indra Ramoo-Haynes read the murder charge to him. She told him he was not entitled to bail and would remain in custody until the case. “I have to say that whenever I read a charge of murder to a son by another (son) it diminishes all of us.”
As Jonathan was walking out of the courtroom he looked at his mother, who was in court, and she waved at him. Dixon’s relatives were not seen in court. Jonathan was remanded to the Youth Training Centre to reappear on July 2.