Students charged for selling ganja in school

Feb 27, 2009 News

– parents break down after bail is refused

There was drama at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court yesterday when the parents of two community high school students burst out in loud wailing after the lads were remanded to police custody, having been charged with trafficking in narcotics.
The youths, both 15 years old, were allegedly caught with 60 grams of marijuana at the Plaisance Community High School on Wednesday.

They appeared before Magistrate Yohhahnseh Cave and were represented by attorney at law Adrian Thompson, who in his request for bail cited the ages of the youths as a special circumstance.
This was after police prosecutor Sergeant Shurland Thomas objected to bail.
In the end the Magistrate remanded the students into the custody of the police.
The youths were initially taken to court but had to be sent back into police custody because their parents or guardians were not present.

According to a source at the school, one of the youths was seen with the drug as he attempted to sell some to another student. Teachers were alerted and as they approached the youths with a view to apprehending them, they desperately tried to conceal it outside of the school premises.
The source said that the incident has really dampened the spirits of the entire school population since it came after the institution successfully participated in the Schools’ Mashramani Steelband Competition for the first time.

“We have a very open relationship with most of the students here and if they see something they will come and tell us,” the source at the school told this newspaper.
Following the bust, the students’ parents were contacted before they were handed over to the police.
One of the students claimed that the marijuana was given to them by a man to be dropped off at a specific location.

However, police did not buy their story. One police source told this newspaper that they had received reports that the illicit substance was being sold on the school premises.
The source at the school said that no one ever suspected that this was taking place until the discovery was made.
One student is in grade nine while the other is one level higher.

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