A 42-year-old man has been taken into police custody, in relation to the murder of a young girl, in Lucea, Hanover on Wednesday.

The girl has been identified as 9-year-old Nikita Noel otherwise called “Jojo”.

Police theorize that the girl had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

Reports are that, when the girl did not return home from school, a missing person report was filed with the police.

Cops, along with relatives of the girl, and residents of the community, then launched a search, and her body was found in bushes, meters away from her home.

Head of the Hanover Police, Superintendent Sharon Beeput told Irie Fm news shortly after the incident a suspect was identified and he has since been taken into custody.

She said her team will visit the child’s mother today.

Meanwhile, founder of advocacy group, Hear the Children’s Cry, Betty-Ann Blaine, has condemned the killing of 9-year-old Nikita Noel.

Ms. Blaine said Jamaica has seen too many cases of sexual abuse and murder involving children.

And Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, has also expressed deep sadness at the death of a 9-year-old Nikita Noel, a student of Esher Primary in Lucea, Hanover.

Mrs Williams said the brutal assault and murder of little Nikita is a sad reflection of the barbarity that characterises elements of the Jamaican society.

She said every child should be protected by the society as a whole.

The minister is urging anyone who may have information that could help the police in their investigations to provide it so that the perpetrators can be caught and brought to justice.

The ministry has reached out through its regional office to offer counseling services to Nikita’s immediate family and school community.