Shineka Gray murder trial: Ex-girlfriend of alleged killer says he refused to accept their break-up
ST JAMES, Jamaica — The ex-girlfriend of Gregory Roberts, the man being tried for the 2017 murder of schoolgirl Shineka Gray, on Wednesday testified that he refused to accept their break-up.
She said, as a result, she had to block him from being able to contact her by phone at one point.
The woman told the St James Circuit Court that she met Roberts sometime in 2014 or 2015, three months after he was in lock-up.
She stated that the relationship lasted approximately two years, and though he had a problem letting go they continued to communicate as friends.
The witness, the sixth of 18 down to take the stand, also said that the defendant sent her a text message on the night of January 29, 2017 with the word ‘sacrifice’ in it. However she said she could not remember the exact message.
“When you saw that word, did you respond to him?” lead prosecutor Andrea Martin-Swaby asked.
“I’m sure I did respond, but I can’t tell you the exact words,” the witness answered.
The witness also told the court that the next day, January 30, 2017, Roberts texted her and asked if another witness, who testified for the prosecution on Monday, had shown her a video that he wanted her to see.
“I said, ‘What video?’ And he said, ‘I asked him to send you the video.’ I am not sure what this video is about,” the witness explained.
She noted that Roberts never sent her the video in question.
She also testified that he once met her at the market and gave her $10,000, but she had no idea what the $10,000 was for.
“After he gave you the $10,000, was there any communication from him?” Martin-Swaby asked.
“Yes, he texted me, but I cannot remember exactly what the text was about. But based on the conversation, he wanted to see me… I did not agree because I told him I would not be home,” the witness explained.
During cross-examination by Roberts’ lawyer, Chumu Paris the length of the witness’s relationship with the accused and how it ended was established.
“Have you ever blocked his phone?” Paris asked.
She replied in the affirmative but stated that she was not sure if Roberts had ever blocked her phone.
During his cross, Paris also raised the issue of Roberts’ young daughter and asked the witness if she had ever gone out with them. She said she had. When asked about his relationship with his daughter, she stated that he was a good father.
“When you met with him by the market and he gave you $10,000, didn’t he tell you that the $10,000 he gave you was a sacrifice that he made and that that money should have been given to his daughter?” Paris asked.
The witness stated that she could not recall.
A previous witness had testified on Monday that on January 29, 2017, Roberts came to him wearing blood-stained clothes and showed him a video of himself stabbing a young girl.
Shineka Gray was found dead in bushes in Irwin, St James with multiple stab wounds on February 1, 2017.
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The trial continues on Thursday.