Principal charged with cruelty to children

Newsday's front page

Maraval school principal Arlene Blackman is scheduled to appear in court Friday to answer two counts of Cruelty to Children.

Police charged Blackman Thursday under the Children’s Act, for allegedly placing the head of two students in a toilet bowl at her school and flushing the toilet.

The Newsday newspaper quoted a parent as saying that police asked his son if Blackman was the person who placed his head in a toilet bowl and flushed it. he asnwered, "Yes".

The paper said the police used the same procedure with the two alleged victims . Last Friday last Blackman wrote etters to parents of children attending her school, assuring that all was well and that she was determined to deal with issues involving male students in the toilet area of the school. 

On that same day one parent reported to the Port-of-Spain CID that her son's head was placed in a toilet bowl at the school’s compound and that the toeilet was flushed with the boy's head in the bowl.