A Magistrate has removed two youngsters from their homes following their convictions for assaulting a teacher.

The Royal Gazette has learned that the former Warwick Secondary students, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in a closed Juvenile Court session earlier this month for sentencing.

The boys, now 14 and 16, were charged with acting together unlawfully assaulting Victor Coggin and thereby doing him bodily harm on March 4.

The incident provoked a storm of outrage among teachers across the Island and Government placed security guards in high schools for the first time.

However, retiring Magistrate Cheryl-Ann Mapp reportedly did not notify the Crown Counsel until minutes before the sentencing occurred on February 9 and declared the hearing of the high-profile case closed to the Press.

When contacted yesterday, Crown counsel Lesley Basden said she was prohibited by the Attorney General from disclosing what occurred in the court, including the sentences.

But The Royal Gazette understands that the older of the two boys was sentenced to corrective training at the Co-Ed Facility while the younger was sent "to an approved society'' which is believed to be a home where he will be closely supervised.

Mrs. Mapp last August found the boys not guilty of together unlawfully assaulting Victor Coggin.

But late last year Puisne Judge Richard Ground ruled Mrs. Mapp's decision should be set aside on the grounds of a "wrong decision in law''.

And he sent the case back to her with an order that she convict the teens of common assault and sentence them.

Mrs. Mapp postponed sentencing last November, pending social inquiry reports on both boys.

And when they appeared for sentencing last month, Mrs. Mapp adjourned the matter indefinitely because one of the members of her Juvenile Court panel was involved in an inquest.

She promised to notify defence lawyer Victoria Pearman and Ms Basden about the new sentencing date.