Troy woman says police ignored eight years of reports against alleged serial rapist

A woman from Troy, Trelawny, says she spent eight years reporting the man accused of being a serial rapist in the district, and that nothing was done to stop him. The suspect, Delroy Coke, was killed by a mob on Tuesday, shortly after 10-year-old Shanai K was raped and killed.

The woman's identity is being withheld to protect her from further victimisation. She said she and her children were repeatedly targeted by Coke over the past eight years, and that every complaint she made fell on deaf ears.

The earliest incident she described happened when her son was two years old. She said she saw Coke trying to get into her home, alerted her aunt, and her aunt called the police. She was instructed to relocate and moved in with her mother.

That did not end the harassment. The woman believes Coke tampered with and poisoned her water, noting that no one else in the area troubles her family and that nothing of the sort had ever happened in the community before. A second report was made to the police.

Despite that report, she said, the harassment carried on. After Hurricane Melissa she saw Coke at her window on several occasions, but the police told her their hands were tied because he had not entered the house. She also faulted the authorities for never checking on him after he came out of prison, where he had served time in a case involving a young woman before the child was attacked.

Fear has kept her children indoors. "So, if it wasn't that little girl, it would have been one of my children, but I keep them inside," she said.

The community has been tense since Tuesday, with residents criticising the police for failing to act quickly. The police declined to speak directly with reporters, but in a video statement on Friday they appealed for calm in the area while investigations continue.