A church youth worker cried in Supreme Court yesterday as she described the last time she saw "shy and beautiful" schoolgirl Rhiana Moore alive.

The 14-year-old's body was found in the mangroves at a Hamilton Parish park on Saturday, May 31 last year, the day after she went missing. She had been stabbed multiple times and was found to be around seven months pregnant.

Ze Menefeskiduse Selassie, 33, is accused of murdering Rhiana on or about Friday, May 30. He is said by prosecutors to have been in a secret relationship with the schoolgirl at the time. He denies the charge.

Taking the witness stand on the opening day of the case yesterday, youth leader Jenna Bean described the night Rhiana disappeared.

Mrs. Bean works at the Radnor Road Christian Fellowship youth group in Hamilton Parish the church attended by Rhiana and her mother Juliann Moore. Rhiana was also on the youth dance team.

Asked by prosecutor Michael McColm to describe the schoolgirl, the witness replied: "She was shy. She was very private. She didn't really expose much about herself. She liked to have fun. She was a beautiful girl."

Mrs. Bean explained that Rhiana arrived between 8.30 p.m. and 8.45 p.m that Friday night, while the youngsters were watching a video.

She asked Mrs. Bean to fill out a school form then left, saying her aunt was coming to take her to a sleepover.

Around midnight, Mrs. Bean got a call from Rhiana's mother, who sounded "frantic" as she had not come home.

She then tried to contact the schoolgirl herself. Rhiana did not respond when she called her cell phone.

However, there were responses to several text messages she sent to Rhiana's phone from around 2 a.m. onwards on the Saturday morning.

Mrs. Bean asked Rhiana where she was and who she was with, and asked her to come home.

She detailed one texted response from Rhiana's phone as saying something like: "I'm coming now, be there in an hour".

The witness broke down in tears as she detailed further texts from Rhiana's phone stating, "I'm in Somerset", and responding to an inquiry about whether she'd returned home with "not yet".

The responses then ceased.

Asked by Selassie's lawyer John Perry QC about Rhiana's personality, she agreed that she was secretive and that she'd asked questions about boyfriends. She denied that Rhiana ever asked her about sex.

Next on the witness stand was Beverley McGowan, who taught the dance class Rhiana attended on Saturday mornings.

She described seeing Rhiana coming up the hill by the church that night as she drove there to drop her own children off. Her head was down and she was punching in the keys on her cell phone.

Ms McGowan turned her car around after dropping her kids off to ask Rhiana what she was doing out of church, but she'd gone.

Selassie denies murder, and the case continues.