WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Justice Courtney Daye has handed over the case of a teenage boy accused of raping, buggering, and strangling to death a nine-year-old girl to a six-member jury for deliberation.

The jurors, evenly split between both genders, were handed the case around 1:24 pm on Friday.

On Thursday, in laying out the guidelines that will inform the jury’s decision, Justice Daye noted that while the accused has not denied having sex with the victim, he has not pleaded guilty to the three offences of rape, buggery, and murder.

The boy, now 17, was 13 at the time the incident allegedly occurred.

Allegations are that the boy sexually assaulted and killed the young girl, whom he knew, after she accepted his invitation to pick apples as they walked home from school on June 5, 2018. Her body was found near a guava tree, which is about 15 to 20 feet from the apple tree.

A post-mortem report presented in court last week showed that the child died of asphyxia caused by manual strangulation. She also had lacerations of the vagina and anus.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn is leading the prosecution with support from Renelle Morgan and Loriann Thugwell.

The defence is led by Denley Saddoo and supported by Devon Brown.

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