Shineka Gray murder case hits snag

Western Bureau:

The much-anticipated trial of the two men charged with the murder of 15-year-old Green Pond High School student, Shineka Gray, failed to get off the ground in the St James Parish Court Wednesday, due to the absence of one of the defence attorneys.

The court was told that attorney-at-law Martyn Thomas, who is representing Mario Morrison, one of the two accused men, was ill and was not able to attend court. Following the disclosure, Morrison and his co-accused, Gregory Roberts were ordered remanded until April 6, the date set for the next hearing.

When the case was called up on Wednesday, attorney-at-law Henry McCurdy, who is watching proceedings on behalf of the Gray family, told presiding magistrate Sandria Wong-Small that Thomas would not appear because of his illness.

It was also disclosed to the court that the post-mortem report and the Communication Forensic and Cyber-Crime Unit report were not yet in the prosecution's possession , hence their case file was not ready.

That declaration that the two reports were not ready did not go over well with Wong-Small, who made her displeasure known.

The body of Gray, who hailed from Mt Salem in Montego Bay, was found with stab wounds in bushes in the Irwin community, also in St James, on February 1.

She was reported missing three days earlier after she attended the funeral of a former schoolmate but never returned home.

Following investigations by the police, Morrison and Roberts were taken into custody and questioned. They were subsequently arrested and charged with the murder.