Naturally, Khajeel Mais’ family is upset.

Their anger is directed at Wayne Wright, the driver of the taxi in which Khajeel was shot dead in July 2011 and who was the Crown’s main witness; Patrick Powell, the man who was acquitted of murder in the case last week; and the prosecutor.

“The prosecutor should not have predicated his case on the witness being able to identify the killer,” argued the late 17-year-old Kingston College student’s aunt, who opted not to be named.

Her reference was to the fact that the Crown’s case crumbled after Wright told the court that he did not see who fired the shots into his taxi after his car ran into the back of another vehicle.

Wright, during his first day on the stand, had testified that he did not see the vehicle that he had collided with. He said that he did not have time to take notice as shots started firing immediately after the collision and he had not seen anyone on the road.

Wright had also testified that on the night of the incident it was raining and the area was foggy.

However, on that same day he had also testified that he had told the police in his statement that he was sure the car he had hit was black and that it was an SUV type, or an X5, or a “big back” vehicle.

Wright, who was eventually adjudged a hostile witness by the prosecution, after permission was granted by Justice Lloyd Hibbert to treat him as such because he showed himself to be inconsistent and adverse, grudgingly admitted that he gave the police two statements after initially insisting that he had only given one statement.

According to the prosecution, Wright, in his first statement, had said he saw the killer with the gun in his hand shooting at his car; that he saw the killer’s vehicle; and also that he knew Mais and his family.

However, he testified that the police tried to influence him to lie about the vehicle.

Wright also denied knowing the Mais family.

On Friday, in an emotionally charged interview with the Jamaica Observer, the teenager’s aunt argued that the prosecutor could have used circumstantial evidence to fight the case. Her main focus in that area was the fact that Powell had not complied with a request by the police to hand over his licensed firearm.

“Why, after five-and-a-half years, he hasn’t given up his gun to the police?” Noel Mais, the boy’s father, asked.

Powell is scheduled to appear in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on November 18 in relation to the charge of failing to hand over his licensed firearm.

According to the police, Powell was served with two notices to hand over his licensed firearm to the police for it to be tested but did not. He was subsequently charged with breaches of the Firearms Act.

But even as the family grieves, the teenager’s aunt said they understood why Wright testified as he did in court.

According to Mrs Mais, there are several questions to be answered in relation to the investigation of her son’s death and the trial “but who will answer”? she asked.

In the meantime, the family sought to clear the air on the perception given during the trial that Khajeel was a troubled child.

He was only guilty of being too opinionated, which caused him to get into trouble, they said.

According to the aunt, Khajeel was the average “talkative, mouthy 17-year-old”.

“He did not [easily] take no for an answer, you have to prove to him, him not backing down,” Mr Mais said.

Added Mrs Mais: “Anything he did, he either read it somewhere or knew it was morally right or wrong.”

As it relates to the matter that he had in court, she said he was charged after he searched a young girl at his friend’s home where he had lost his phone.

But Mrs Mais said she believed they would have been successful in the case, as the girl had used the phone to call her and a neighbour twice by mistake.

As the family tries to come to terms with the outcome of the murder trial, they said they will be leaving the matter “in God’s Court” and now want the authorities to implement some tangible changes to the justice system.

“The murderer of my nephew will never pay the penalty in our courts, we will have to live with that too, but I hope the attention and all the energy around my nephew’s murder will bring about change — real and measurable change,” said his aunt.

Mrs Mais agreed, and asked: “Can we get the authorities to implement mandatory video taping of all eyewitness reports, just one, real, measurable change?”

She added: “How can we use this outrage to cause a tangible change in our justice system, that can reduce the possibility of a recurrence? How can we galvanise all of this to mean something, because that is how we will begin to heal, if something meaningful can come out if this wanton, senseless murder of this innocent child.

“I want Jamaicans to stand up and demand change,” she said.