New date in Shineka Gray murder case

WESTERN BUREAU:

Mario Morrison and Gregory Roberts, the men charged with murder in connection with the death of 15-year-old Shineka Gray, a student at the Green Pond High School in St James at the time of her death, are to undergo a committal hearing in the St James Parish Court on September 19.

At the committal hearing, it will be decided whether or not the case against them will be transferred to the St James Circuit Court.

Morrison and Roberts were given the new date when they appeared in the St James Parish Court on Friday. Presiding judge Sandria Wong-Small ordered that they be remanded in custody.

Clerk of the court Shelly-Ann Greaves told judge Wong-Small that a report from the police's Communications Forensic and Cyber-Crimes Unit (CFCU) was still not in the prosecution's case file.

"We are awaiting one the CFCU report with regard to cell-phone data, and I understand it is to be collected this Friday," she said.

The judge raised concerns about the State's readiness to place the matter before the Circuit Court.

"If I have not seen the bundle (documents collected for the case file), how is it going to be committed?" asked Wong-Small. "If the prosecution is not in a position to prepare and serve it by then, the matter is not going to the Circuit Court for September."

Following further deliberations, Wong-Small set the September 19 date for the committal hearing. She also gave instructions that the document bundles should be submitted by or before August 17.

Shineka Gray's body was found with multiple stab wounds in bushes in the Irwin community of St James on February 1, three days after she had gone missing while returning from the funeral of a schoolmate.