Child killer didn’t want to waste court’s time – Lawyer

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After having previously maintained her innocence, Kayodi Satchell, who is charged in the slaying of eight-year-old Danielle Rowe, yesterday pleaded guilty to murder and child stealing in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.

Lead prosecutor, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Tamara Merchant, detailed how Satchell took the child from Braeton Primary and Infant School, in St Catherine, on June 8 last year and took her her to Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew where she was found with her throat slashed. Danielle was pronounced dead on July 10 at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, a killing that triggered national outrage.

Satchell, a 32-year-old dental assistant, gazed straight ahead then at the floor and displayed no emotion as the details were being read out. Attorney for Danielle’s family, Matthew Hyatt, said hearing details of her final hours “was a heartbreaking moment” for her mother.

“Just listening to the prosecution outlining the allegations was a very rough one. But this is certainly the start of closure for the family,” Hyatt told journalists outside the court. “Jamaica lost someone who could have been someone great in society. It was devastating for the family.”

Donnovan Collins, one of the attorneys representing Satchell, said his client did not want to waste the court’s time. He added that she would seek to benefit from a reduced sentence as provided in law when an accused person pleads guilty. The sentencing hearing is set for November 14. A motive for the killing has not been publicly disclosed.

Merchant unveiled the evidence collected by police investigators tying Satchell to the gruesome murder. Key among them was the fact that Satchell was picked out of a police line-up by the motorist who first saw the wounded Danielle lying on the busy street on June 8. The motorist told police investigators that he saw a woman “dressed in floral top” walking from a derelict building at 1 Roosevelt Avenue. Moments later, he saw “a little girl” — dressed in a school uniform — walking from the same building, but heading in the opposite direction to the woman. According to the motorist, the child’s backpack fell to the ground and “she was now walking out into the traffic”. He told investigators that Danielle bumped into his vehicle before falling onto the roadway.

“He indicated that he came out of his vehicle and he picked up this little girl and realised she was alive. He said blood was coming from her throat and he noticed that it was slit open,” Merchant said, recounting the motorist’s evidence. He held her close to his chest to stem the bleeding and rushed her to hospital.