MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica--One man has been taken into custody for questioning in connection with the murder of fifteen-year-old Shineka Gray, the grade ten Green Pond High School student whose partially decomposed body was found riddled with stab wounds Wednesday afternoon, three days after she was reported missing.
The gruesome discovery was made by residents of Clark Street in her Mount Salem community who had summoned the police to a section of the Meadows of Irwin, a short distance from her school.
The brutal murder of the teen, who was described as “mannerly,” devastated her family, neighbours and schoolmates.
“It really hurt mi heart to see them do Shineka like that. She don’t deserve that kind of death,” the teen’s grandmother, Rose Sloley, told reporters. “Mi really feel devastated the way how them do Shineka. It affect the whole family. Some can’t eat, some drop down, some have to go to the doctor to get injection and all of that.”
The distraught grandmother said that Shineka lived with her since she was a baby.
Sloley, who returned to Jamaica from abroad after learning of her granddaughter’s disappearance, said she last spoke to Shineka on Sunday and had tried discouraging her from attending the funeral of a classmate.
“I told her that I did not like the idea of her travelling back and forth, because they are abducting kids and killing them. Also, I heard there was some shooting in Clark Street, so I don’t think it would be a good idea to go to funeral right now. So please stay home and don’t go to no funeral,” Sloley said she told her granddaughter.
“If she just follow mi... and she still go weh go a funeral,” Sloley added.
The student was last seen alive at a popular restaurant chain in Montego Bay after she returned from the funeral, her grandmother stated.
When the Jamaica Observer visited Green Pond High School Thursday, several students, especially from the upper school, could not contain their grief.
“She don’t even get to live until she is 16 and they kill her,” one female student, who had to be supported by other students, wailed.
Another female student fainted and had to be rushed to hospital.
The teary-eyed students were given grief counselling by trauma teams from the school, the Ministry of Education and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.
Principal Michael Ellis, whose face was a picture of grief, dismissed classes for the day.
“As principal, I also have to use my best judgement because, as you can see, the students are traumatised and members of staff themselves are traumatised; so we have to extend as much understanding as we can and allow them sufficient time to grieve,” Ellis said, putting on a brave face.
Meanwhile, Sloley said that she will “leave everything in God’s hand.”
“Mi pray for the person who did it. Because at the end of the day, the person who did it has to give account for his sins. Right now mi leave it inna God’s hand,” she said with a blank stare.
Commander of the St. James Police Division Senior Superintendent Marlon Nesbeth said that the police will leave no stone unturned in their quest to bring the perpetrator of the grisly crime to justice.
He also expressed confidence that the case would be solved quickly.
“Our investigation is going quite well; we are pursuing leads. We expect that we will be making a breakthrough very soon,” he said, adding that a post-mortem will be carried out by the weekend. ~ Jamaica Observer ~
