One of the last people to see Jay Slater alive has returned to the Tenerife Airbnb rental from which the British teenager vanished. Stephen Roccas – known as Rocky – was staying at the remote mountain cottage in Masca with Jay and convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, 31, on the night the 19-year-old disappeared into the wilderness.
However, he refused to give testimony to a subsequent inquest into Jay’s death, unlike Qassim, who gave evidence by video link. In a seemingly strange move, Roccas has posted a nine-second video of himself standing outside the very cottage where Jay was last seen alive. Dressed in a West Ham football top, Roccas films a view of the mountains overlooking the cottage.
A caption added to the video clip reads: “Views”. He also attached two fire emojis and one of a mountain to the post. The clip, shared on social media earlier this month, was set to a song called 25 Squares by rap artist Big Bank.
Some social media users questioned Roccas’s decision to post the video after he refused to give testimony. One wrote, “What ya trying to prove Rocky? This is bad taste?” while another added: “This is a bit sick.”
Roccas didn’t reply to the criticism, instead responding to each comment with a single quizzical emoji.
Jay’s heartbroken mother Debbie Duncan accused Roccas of “rubbing our noses in it”, when informed of the video.
She said: “What is he trying to do? Rub our noses in it? Why has he even gone back there? What for? What’s he trying to prove? I don’t understand it.
“I would love to ask him some questions, but I can’t as the inquest is over and it’s all done. But I really would like to know why he’s back there.
“I hope people start asking questions of him. The last year has been hell for us.”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished on 17 June last year. Despite a huge search effort, he was found dead close to the village of Masca on 15 July – nearly an hour’s drive from his apartment at Playa de las Americas.
