MONTEGO BAY, St James — It has been six years since the partially decomposed body of 15-year-old Shineka Gray was found in bushes of the Irwin community in this parish.

And while the girl’s name has become a distant memory in the minds of many, her family is still filled with grief as one of the suspected perpetrators of this heinous crime has not yet been brought to justice, said Shineka’s aunt Nickeda Gray.

The body of the young girl was found by a search party of family and friends on February 1, 2017 — three days after she was reported missing. She had multiple stab wounds to the chest. Shineka was last seen after attending the funeral of a former Green Pond High student in Lottery, St James. She was a grade 10 student at the same secondary school.

In the days following the discovery of the girl’s body, then 23-year-old Mario Morrison, of Bamboo district, Hanover; and 31-year-old Gregory Roberts, a taxi driver of Maroon Town, St James, were arrested and charged following interviews with the police. However, Nickeda told the Jamaica Observer that the family has not received any form of closure as the court case is still ongoing six years later.

“There have been several times that we have gotten dates for us to be at the court, but there has been no progress in this courthouse in MoBay. As the case calls up, it gets put off. For the past six years that is what it has been like,” the girl’s aunt explained.

She continued, “As the family, you feel as if you don’t have much input when you are in the courthouse, but the accused can say what they want to say the entire time. It feels as if the system is not on the victims’ side. Whenever we go there, it seems like the justice system is more for the [defendant].”

The men were expected to stand trial in the St James Circuit Court in November 2018, but the case was put off due to a lack of jurors. At that time, an application was made for the trial to be held outside of St James, as Roberts cited concerns for his safety, but that application was denied. Since then, Morrison has pleaded guilty to his role in the murder of the schoolgirl and was reportedly sentenced to 15 years in prison, however Roberts is expected to return to court in March.

In the meantime, Nickeda told the Sunday Observer that the grief process has not been easy for the family. Describing Shineka as the well-behaved child whom she had the privilege of raising until she was taken away from her family, the aunt stated that she had been battling depression for the last six years.

She said that January and February have been the hardest months, as the constant memory of finding the child’s body in the bushes had taken a toll on her emotionally.

“I think most of us are depressed. My mother is the only one who has kept strong since the whole thing happened. But I was the one who had to do the running up and down. I had to see the body and do everything, so when it comes to this time of the year, all that depression comes down on me and I am unable to function even at work,” Nickeda said.

As for Shineka’s father, Nickeda said he, too, has found it difficult to cope with the loss of the girl.

“My brother is very depressed, but if you look at him it would not seem that way. But I know because he is just working non-stop and he has never talked about it. He almost lost his finger [recently] because he is overworking himself. He has been trying to find things to do, so he doesn’t have to think about this,” Nickeda told the Sunday Observer.

The incidents surrounding the girl’s brutal murder have remained unknown to the family. It is speculated that Shineka, in her attempt to return to the home of her mother where she was staying for the weekend, entered a taxi in downtown Montego Bay. The child’s body was found a few miles away.

Nickeda said that her family had still not come to grips with the reality that the girl whom they cherished and protected had met a brutal murder on one of the few days that she took public transportation.

“We cry all the time. We can’t do anything without thinking about her. She wasn’t a child who just let go on the road. We took her to school and we picked her up back. There were two days in the week when her daddy couldn’t pick her up and we arranged for a taxi man to do it,” she said.

The girl’s aunt added before her voice cracked, “So when all of this happened we were wondering how this could be possible. We are still not even sure.”

Shineka’s mother has also been struggling with the child’s murder, Nickeda told the Sunday Observer.

“The mother is depressed as well. During the time that it happened, she could not continue working or stay at the house. She was there alone and the constant reminder was too much, so she went to Florida and did not come back. I talk to her at least once a month and every time we talk, the emotions are [a lot] to handle,” said Nickeda.