Shani Coke's Death Sparks Outrage & Jungle Justice In Jamaica

A tight-knit community in Troy, a usually quiet farming district in southern Trelawny, Jamaica, is in shambles following the discovery of 10-year-old Shani Coke’s lifeless body, which was found in the bushes off a roadway last Tuesday.

Described by her maternal grandmother as a “polite, intelligent child who excelled at school,” Shani’s partially clothed and ravaged body showed clear signs of rape, and her throat had also been sadistically slashed.

The young girl’s gruesome murder and the subsequent death of the suspected culprit, Delroy Coke, Shani’s cousin, and the hospitalization of his father, Maxwell Coke, at the hands of an angry mob seeking jungle justice have sent shockwaves across the Caribbean island and its diaspora, sparking conversations online and in homes about pedophilia, sexual assault, and weaknesses in Jamaica’s criminal justice system.

“When you see her, all you could say was, ‘Jesus’,” Merle Williams, Shani’s grandmother, who had raised the child since birth while her mother worked elsewhere, told The Gleaner. “I couldn’t believe it. I was frightened and shocked.”

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On Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., Merle sent her granddaughter to buy something at a local shop, but when Shani did not return home within half an hour, the elderly woman began to panic, recalling, “When four o’clock came, and she never come back, me say, ‘No man, something wrong.’”

She went on to say that her granddaughter was rarely away from home for long, and that neighbours confirmed that Shani had arrived safely at the shop in the Tire district of Troy and was seen walking back, carrying her purchases.

Merle described Shani as “very friendly” and went on to say that she “was loved throughout the community,” so it’s no surprise that some neighbors even waved to her as she passed by. “Everywhere she go, people love her,” she added. But sadly, Shani never made it home.

Family members alerted residents in the community that she was missing, and they started a search shortly after 4 p.m. Then roughly three to four hours later, Shani’s remains were found discarded in the bushes with her beautiful bright eyes still wide open. Merle said she tried to touch her granddaughter, hoping they would close.

Shani’s father, Ashton “Junior” Coke, got the devastating news about his daughter’s death when he received a phone call shortly before 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The grieving father said he could not bring himself to approach the scene where his daughter’s body was carelessly discarded. “I was terrified,” he said. “I didn’t even know myself.” He remained on the roadway until almost midnight, telling The Gleaner the following day, “I miss my daughter very much.”

“Morning and evening Shani would stop by to check on me,” he continued, recalling how he would help his daughter with her homework after school. He also shared that Shani regularly came to see him at his hardware store, excited to tell him about her day at school.

“She was doing well in school,” he said. “She never got a chance to live.”

“When Shani goes to school, she doesn’t play around. She took her education seriously. From Shani a go basic school, she was always first [in her class]. She was always putting out her best. She is from an educated background. Her father is educated and so is her mother,” Shani’s aunt Shawna Williams-Stevens told journalists on Wednesday alongside her sister, the child’s mother, Ackeem “Kim” Williams, according to The Jamaica Observer.

Shani’s father said for a long time he expressed concerns about his daughter’s safety because of a man living in the community with a history of sexually deviant and violent behavior. He said he had repeatedly asked her grandmother not to send her anywhere alone, especially because the route home included an isolated stretch of roadway after the last few houses.

The police have confirmed that Delroy Coke was the man who was beaten, chopped, and stoned to death by an angry mob, although he was not seen committing the crime. However, investigators said residents inferred he was responsible because of his criminal history, while others say that he confessed to the crime during his attack.

According to police, Coke was a convicted sexual offender who had previously been arrested for buggery (a.k.a. sodomy) in the eastern parish of Portland in 2014, sexual touching of a child in Trelawny in 2017, and another buggery offence in Trelawny in 2019. He served five years at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre for the 2019 conviction before being released in August 2025.

Police continue to investigate both Shani’s murder and the subsequent mob killing of Coke. Meanwhile, a man suspected of participating in the mob was arrested on Wednesday, prompting Troy residents to protest and eventually set Coke’s house on fire.

While the arson at Coke’s home has been quelled, the flames of emotions rage on as a community continues to seek justice and change in the name of Shani Coke, another bright light dimmed much too soon.

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