Dubai: The 14-year-old pupil who survived a stabbing incident on Tuesday will spend another day – Thursday, which also happens to be his birthday – in hospital after doctors found blood in one of his lungs.
Eighth grader Roj Pascual was stabbed four times by a seventh grader in a classroom at The Philippine School in Rashidiya on Tuesday morning. He was stabbed once in the back, twice in his left arm and once on his left side.
Doctors on Tuesday said he is stable but remains under observation. A tube has been inserted into his body to drain the blood that accumulated in one of his lungs that had been punctured, Roj’s mother, Devani, told Gulf News on Wednesday. He has a breathing tube to help him breathe.
“So far, he is OK. His vitals signs are stable, he’s breathing properly now. He’s given pain medication every six hours,” Devani said.
“I’m really hoping that he can be discharged on Thursday because it’s his birthday.”
Roj had a fist fight with the seventh grader at around 11am on Tuesday inside the latter’s classroom. Roj earlier said he confronted the seventh grader for allegedly flashing a finger at him twice. He said he was stabbed using what looked like a military or camping knife.
Police have started investigations into the assault. When the patrol reached the school, they found out that the two had had a brawl prior to the stabbing.
Colonel Khalid Mohammad Ahmad Al Suhool, Director of Al Rashidiya police station, said that investigations are still ongoing and witnesses are being questioned. “Once the investigations and procedures are completed the case will be transferred to Dubai Public Prosecution’s Family and Juveniles Prosecution.”
He said that in juvenile cases, the children are not put in jail before trial.
Forensics will determine the object used to stab the victim.
Whether the school will shoulder part of the responsibility or not will be clear once investigations are concluded.
Parents who have kids enrolled in the school said an emergency meeting for parents of eighth graders was held on Wednesday morning. No details were revealed, however.
A mother of another seventh grader from the same school, who declined to be identified, told Gulf News that the suspect, identified as R.O., was reportedly being bullied by Roj in school.
Gulf News, however, could not independently verify this information as it has yet to reach R.O.’s family for a comment.
Devani said R.O.’s mother and sister visited Roj at the hospital on Tuesday night to plead for forgiveness.
Schoolmates and friends, along with the school principal and managing directress, also visited the pupil, who is waiting for doctor’s orders on whether he will need surgery.
“The people who visited him here spoke well of him. They even described him as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy and a friendly young man,” Devani said. “The issue here is not about bullying. The issue here is that a student almost killed my son while in school.”
When Gulf News contacted the school, Leticia Maniaul, the managing directress, said: “We have no comment for now.”
- With additional inputs from Noorhan Barakat, Staff Reporter
