HANOVER, Jamaica – The Hanover police are reporting that the 42-year-old suspect in the murder of Nikita Noel, in Kew District in the parish, is not yet charged.

The nine-year-old student of Esher Primary failed to return home last Wednesday afternoon, resulting in an alarm being raised by her mother. Noel was later discovered after 7:30pm in bushes, metres away from her home, by a search party.

READ: ‘It’s dreadful, it hurts’ – Mother of 9-y-o Hanover schoolgirl devastated after losing only daughter

She is believed to have been raped and strangled.

Her mother’s partner was later accosted by the police and placed in protective custody. His identity has not yet been revealed.

Head of the Hanover Police Division, Senior Superintendent Sharon Beeput told OBSERVER ONLINE Monday afternoon that no charges have been preferred against the man.

“[He is] not yet charged. We’re still working on it. We’re still collecting statements,” Beeput confirmed.

Assistant Commissioner of Police for Area One, Clifford Chambers revealed last Thursday that the suspect and the deceased girl’s mother had an intimate relationship.

“We know that the mother intimate partner, they had an issue between them and that is one of the line of inquiry which is being followed,” he added.