Shineka Gray's case for court January 22

WESTERN BUREAU:

Gregory Roberts and Mario Morrison, the two men charged with the 2017 stabbing death of schoolgirl Shineka Gray, are to make their next appearance in the St James Circuit Court on January 22, when their case will undergo a plea and case-management hearing.

The men were given the new date and remanded when they appeared before presiding High Court Justice Dale Palmer yesterday.

The court was told that further discussions are to be held between the prosecution and the defendants' lawyers to agree on what evidence will be deliberated during the upcoming trial.

A case-management hearing had previously been held last March, at which time Roberts and Morrison had been ordered to stand trial on November 19, 2018.

However, the trial was deferred at that time when Roberts made an unsuccessful application through his lawyer, Chumu Parris, for the matter to be tried outside St James. The application had been made on the grounds that Roberts had reportedly been threatened while in custody.

Roberts and Morrison were arrested and charged with Gray's murder after the body of the 15-year-old was found with multiple stab wounds in bushes in Irwin, St James, on February 1, 2017.

Gray, who was a grade 10 student at Green Pond High School in St James, was last seen alive in Montego Bay on her way home from the funeral of a schoolmate. She was subsequently reported missing after she failed to return home, and her body was found three days later.