LUCEA, Hanover– Omar Green, the man who is charged with rape and murder in the death of nine-year-old Nikita Noel, is booked to reappear in court on March 28.

The date was set when Green made a recent appearance in the Hanover Parish Court.

The 42-year-old construction worker of a Barbary Hill, Lucea, address who at the time was in protective custody, was charged by the police on March 9 following a month of investigations. Green is known to the child.

In February, head of the police Corporate Communications Unit Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay stated that the police were awaiting the results of a post-mortem conducted on February 10, and the results of a forensic examination conducted on items that were submitted.

Nikita, who family members fondly called Joanna, was a student at Esher Primary. She had reportedly travelled from school with her usual taxi driver. She and other passengers exited the cab at the usual spot — the entrance to a dirt road leading up a hill to where her family lives in the community of Kew. However, she did not make it home.

The child’s mother raised an alarm after she did not return home and could not be found. Residents and the police launched a search and her body was found in bushes at the side of the road, a few feet from the entrance to her house.

Nikita was laid to rest two Saturdays ago.