Father recalls Shani Coke's last visit before Troy killing

Ashton 'Junior' Coke is holding tight to the memory of the last time he saw his 20-year-old daughter, Shani Coke, alive — a Saturday visit to his home in Troy that now feels like a final goodbye.

Shani left her grandmother's house at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday, heading for a grocery shop close by. She did not come back. When the wait grew too long, her grandmother raised the alarm and neighbours joined a hurried search across the community. That search ended with the discovery of Shani's body.

Hours after the find, a furious crowd turned on Delroy Coke and beat him to death. His father, Maxwell Coke, was also attacked in the same outburst of violence and taken to hospital for care.

Police say Delroy Coke had faced sexual-offence arrests for more than ten years. Records list an arrest for buggery in Portland on August 9, 2014; an arrest in Trelawny on September 3, 2017, for sexually touching a child; and another buggery arrest in Trelawny on November 30, 2019. He was convicted over the 2019 matter, spent five years at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, and was freed in August 2025.

Officers have made clear they have not established that Delroy Coke raped and murdered Shani. Investigators have not reported any witness who saw him carry out the attack, nor have they identified him as the person responsible. Police said his past offences nonetheless led many in the community to blame him, and that belief fuelled the lethal mob assault.

A man is now in custody over the mob killing. Police believe he took part in the attack that killed Delroy Coke and injured Maxwell Coke.