Teacher On the Rampage

Cape- Coast -- Mr. Eugene Kitson, son of the headmaster of Adisadel College, recently took the law into his own hands, brutalising students whom he accused of being responsible for the woes of his father, Mr. J. E. S. Kitson.

The Chronicle gathered from its investigations into the incident, which occurred last March, that when the college celebrated its 94th speech and prize-giving day, Justice George Kinsley Acquah, Chief Justice and Mr. Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade, Industry and Presidential Special Initiatives, who were special guests, scolded the headmaster and the tutors for the abysmal academic performance and moral decadence in the school.

Thinking that the students were the cause of his father's disgrace, Mr Kitson decided to 'instill discipline' in them by venting his spleen on them during night studies (Prep hours). This, he did, by lashing them with a cane as he moved from one class to another.

Kitson, a computer tutor, also ordered the boys to kneel down on rumps outside the classroom and forced them to crawl in the rain.

As a result, some of the students, who had asthma, fell unconscious in the process and were rushed to hospital where they got resuscitated. Others who sustained injuries were sent to the school's dispensary where they were treated and discharged.

It was learnt by the paper that Kitson, on several occasions, used copper wire to beat students up.

It was also gathered that while the victims were at the dispensary, the wife of the headmaster stormed there and warned the students that they would be suspenmded if they leaked the the information about their ordeals to the public.

When the paper contacted the headmaster on Monday this week, he declined to comment on the matter because it had been referred to the Disciplinary and Counselling Committee of the Municipal Education Unit, which was investigating it.

Rev. Mrs. Hope, Assistant Director of Administration and Finance at the Education Unit, confirmed that the case had been brought before the committee and that the victims were all first-year students.

She explained that the committee would have finished its investigations but the chairperson was serving as a resource person for a career and counselling programme elsewhere.

She, however, assured the paper that the committee would come out with its report in three weeks' time.