A Bermudian mother whose son’s murder has never been solved was in court yesterday to show support for the family of slain Canadian teen Rebecca Middleton.

Marsha Jones told The Royal Gazette: “We have both lost our children and had no justice. We wonder if there is ever going to be any justice. I think it’s important for us to support one another and build a rapport. We are all basically living this nightmare.”

Her 20-year son Shaundae was shot dead at Dockyard in the early hours of Sunday, April 27, 2003. As the fourth anniversary of his death approaches, Ms Jones despairs of his killer ever being caught.

“We have a very good idea of who is the perpetrator but it’s getting the evidence and getting to court and getting to the stage of getting some sort of justice in the long run,” she said.

“It’s hard enough living without your child and burying your child, which is not natural, and then you don’t get any justice for their brutal death.”

Ms Jones, from Warwick, was put in touch with Becky’s mother Cindy Bennett by Bermuda-based author Dr. Carol Shuman, who recently completed a book about the 17-year-old’s 1996 rape and murder.

Yesterday, the two grieving mothers sat close by one another in Supreme Court One as a judicial review into a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to reopen Becky’s case unfolded.

“It was good to speak with Cindy,” said Ms Jones. “It’s a relief to speak to someone who is going through the same thing you are because not everybody always wants to talk about it.

“People who are actually living it can relate to you more and you can have empathy with them. It would be good if Bermudian families who are dealing with similar situations can build a relationship.”

She said this week’s hearing was about Becky and her family and their search for justice but speculated that the outcome could have legal ramifications in her son’s case.

No one has ever been charged with college student Shaundae’s murder but Police said earlier this year that investigations were ongoing and all leads being followed.

Kenith Clifton Bulford was extradited to the Island from Jamaica in connection with the killing but was later freed after a magistrate ruled he had no case to answer on firearms charges.

Ms Jones, a nurse’s aide at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute, said: “It’s so hard when your child leaves you happy and healthy and tells you they’ll see you later and then you hear within hours that they are deceased because of some horrific situation.

“It’s just too much to swallow. You start thinking about all the things you have lost out on, weddings and grandchildren. He would be 24 now.”

She continues to press Police to find Shaundae’s killer. “It’s like they have got half of the puzzle,” she said. “I’m stronger now than I was when this originally happened. I have accepted the fact that he’s gone and he’s not coming back but there’s the anger and pain of the void. I would feel a little better if someone was held accountable for his death. It would be a relief.”

She said she hoped her presence in court would reassure Becky’s parents that people here cared about what happened to their daughter. “Hopefully we can build a relationship because at the end of the day our children are still gone. It’s important to support one another. It’s not fair that we had to bury our kids.”