MONTEGO BAY, St James — High Court judge Justice Bertram Morrison on Friday described the slaughter of 15-year-old schoolgirl Shineka Gray in 2017 as a most gruesome and disgusting act and sentenced her killer to life in prison.

Morrison also ruled that the convicted killer Gregory Roberts will not be eligible to apply for parole until he has served 42 years, nine months, and 21 days in prison. The judge explained that the time Roberts has already served in custody — seven years, two months and nine days — was taken into consideration.

Justice Morrison, in handing down the sentence, said he agreed with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Andrea Martin-Swaby in her sentencing hearing presentation that this was one of the worst cases.

“It reminds me of the days when I used to witness the slaughtering of animals — goats and pigs. This is what human lives have been devalued to?” Justice Morrison asked.

“He decided that he would sacrifice another human being,”Justice Morrison said in reference to text messages Roberts had sent to his ex-girlfriend and her mother.

In the text messages read in court Roberts boasted of making a sacrifice as he warned his ex-girlfriend to repay money she had fleeced him.

While the child was raped and stabbed 19 times in the upper body, Roberts was only charged with murder.

Justice Morrison pointed out the ominous nature of the convicted man as he gave a summary of what took place on the night of January 29, 2017, as revealed during the trial.

“[Shineka] having gone to the taxi stand, having taken up in the defendant’s taxi, being driven not to her house but elsewhere, being set upon by the defendant [as the victim], could not have consented to having sex because of her age, and then the accused man stabbed her up to the upper body?

“The temerity of him video-recording his deeds, and when that was not sufficient he handed the video recorder to his accomplice, Mr [Mario] Morrison who then continued to video-record him. And in one instance in that recording a voice could be heard saying, ‘Dawg, yuh nuh si yuh a mek di blood splash pan mi’,”Justice Morrison related in his judgment summation.

Shineka’s father and stepmother were in court to witness the sentencing of Roberts, who was found guilty by a seven-member jury on January 24.

Also in court was the child’s aunt, Nickeda Gray, who spoke to the media on behalf of the grief-stricken family.

“We are happy that it’s over. We won’t have to be following up the court cases like we used to,” stated a relieved Gray.

“We can sleep now, somewhat. We just have to see how we are going to move forward [with] all the memories of Shineka and everything. But we are glad that they gave him what he deserved,” the aunt added.

Following the handing down of the sentence, Roberts’s lawyer Chumu Paris gave notice that his client intends to appeal the outcome.

When the Jamaica Observer told Gray of the convicted man’s intention, she said the family is ready to face whatever decision Roberts makes.

“My reaction was that he has a right to appeal, but whenever he does that I’ll be right there under his tail. So, whatever he wants to do, that’s him. He has the right to do it, but I’m not going to say what I think. Whatever comes, we’ll deal with it,”she said.

Gray thanked the police investigator, his team, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, saying they did a wonderful job.

Shineka, who was a grade 10 student at the time of her murder, was found dead three days after she had been reported missing. She was last seen alive in Montego Bay while on her way home from the funeral of a schoolmate.

Roberts and Morrison were later taken into custody in connection with the killing.

Morrison pleaded guilty in September 2022 after entering a plea deal with the State and was sentenced to life in prison a month later.