‘She was fighting for her life’

WESTERN BUREAU:

“Lord, this is what You’re going to do to Your daughter?”

Those were the horrified last words of 15-year-old Green Pond High School student Shineka Gray on the night of January 29, 2017, as recounted by murder convict Mario Morrison in the St James Circuit Court on Thursday.

Morrison, who is now serving a life sentence after previously pleading guilty in September 2022 to Gray’s murder, told the court in grim detail about how he and Gregory Roberts, the man now on trial for her murder, had sex with the teenager in different locations prior to taking her to Irwin, St James, where her body would be found days later.

“We picked up a young lady at Courts [in downtown Montego Bay], and she was waiting on a taxi to go to Bogue Village. He (Roberts) stopped at the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) and had sex with her, then he said he wanted to pick up something at Granville, and the young lady was saying she wanted to go to Bogue,” Morrison testified.

“When we reached Retirement, Granville, he got out of the car because he wanted to speak with someone. Then he came back inside the car and drove off to Irwin. After reaching Irwin, he said to the female, ‘You not going to give the ‘dog’ (slang for associate) sex or head?’” Morrison added, recounting Roberts’ actions.

“It was a dirt track and bushes going down by the riverside,” he added. “I was inside the car on my phone, speaking to a cousin, and after coming off the phone, I stepped outside the car, and that’s when I had sexual intercourse with her.”

Shortly after that, Morrison testified, was when things took a gruesome turn, leading to an act that Roberts reportedly described to him as making a ‘sacrifice’, a term which has come up repeatedly during the trial this week.

“She was, like, she wanted to go home. That’s when he started to video, and he videoed himself hugging the girl. Afterwards, he passed the phone to me, saying, ‘Dog, video this for me’, and I’m videoing now, and he had the knife and started to stab her, and she started crying and bawling … . She was actually fighting back for her life at one point, and after she got stabbed she bawled out, ‘Oh my God! This is what You’re going to do to Your daughter?’” Morrison testified, pointing to his own chest to indicate where Roberts reportedly stabbed Gray.

“When he asked you to video, did Gregory tell you why?” lead prosecutor Andrea Martin-Swaby asked.

“Yes, he said he was going to make a sacrifice,” Morrison replied, though he noted that Roberts did not explain what that meant.

But during cross-examination, attorney-at-law Leroy Equiano, one of the attorneys representing Roberts, sought to uproot Morrison’s credibility, pointing to apparent discrepancies between his statement to the police and his current courtroom testimony.

“You came to court several times and said you were not involved. Then you decided to plead guilty after DNA evidence showed that you had sex with the girl when you could not get away,” Equiano said.

“Before the DNA came out, we had an agreement where I was supposed to plead guilty. I told the court the truth … . They did not get everything, but I told the truth,” Morrison replied staunchly.

“You were able to take the police to the area where you had sex with the girl. Let me suggest to you that there are several dirt tracks in that area … . I am suggesting to you that you are very familiar with that area,” Equiano insisted.

“How do you know I’m familiar with that area? It seems you know the area more than I do,” Morrison shot back, triggering laughter elsewhere in the courtroom.

The trial was subsequently suspended until Monday, December 4, when Morrison’s cross-examination will continue.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com