‘DEVASTATING’

Gillian Walker-Morris paused on Tuesday morning when she stumbled upon a book belonging to her former student, eight-year-old Danielle Rowe, who was abducted from Braeton Primary School and murdered just over a year ago.

Hours later, 32-year-old dental assistant Kayodi Satchell whispered “guilty” twice as she answered to charges of murder and child stealing at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston. This admission sealed the fate of the woman, who had previously maintained her innocence.

The lead prosecutor, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Tamara Merchant, provided details of how Satchell took Danielle from the Portmore, St Catherine-based school on June 8, 2023, to Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew, where the child was later found with her throat slashed.

Danielle was pronounced dead two days later at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, a killing that triggered national outrage.

A motive for the killing has not been publicly disclosed.

As the details of the heinous crime were read aloud, Satchell displayed no emotion, gazing straight ahead and then at the floor.

Merchant presented evidence collected by police that tied Satchell to the gruesome murder. Key among this evidence was the testimony of a motorist who identified Satchell in a police lineup.

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, the prosecutor recounted.

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 on to 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 evidence of the motorist.

The motorist held Danielle close to his chest to stem the bleeding and rushed her to the hospital.

Merchant also disclosed that an analysis of a cellphone seized from Satchell revealed she made nearly two dozen calls to Danielle’s parents in the days leading up to the murder. For example, on June 6, between 6:22 a.m. and 10 a.m., Satchell’s phone placed seven unanswered calls to Danielle’s mother. The next day, there were two additional unanswered calls.

“There was no activity on her cellphone on the 8th of June 2023,” Merchant noted, referring to the day Danielle was taken from school.

Additionally, there were six unanswered calls to Danielle’s father, Norman Rowe, on June 9 and one the following day.

While Danielle’s mother, Sudeen Mason, declined to speak with The Gleaner on Tuesday, family attorney Matthew Hyatt said hearing the details of Danielle’s final hours “was a heartbreaking moment for her”.

“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 court. “Jamaica lost someone who could have been someone great in society. It was devastating for the family.”

Donnovan Collins, one of Satchell’s attorneys, stated that his client did not want to waste the court’s time.

He answered “absolutely” when asked if Satchell would seek to benefit from a reduced sentence due to her guilty plea but declined to comment further, citing the pending sentencing hearing set for November 14.

Meanwhile, several miles away, as the school day drew to a close, Walker-Morris reflected on how the tragedy has impacted her.

She told The Gleaner that she is now more vigilant with her current students at Braeton Primary and Infant School.

“I am more cautious when it comes to my students now, even if they are going to the bathroom. I get upset with them whenever they step out of the room and I don’t know where they are,” Walker-Morris said moments after Satchell entered her guilty pleas.

Although she does not believe she can be faulted for the tragic event, she acknowledged that it has taught her a hard lesson.

“But, you know, I probably would have been not necessarily the last person to see her alive, but because the person came to the door to speak to the child, I’m just really, really on my Ps and Qs where that is concerned,” she said.

It was reported that hours before Danielle went missing, a strange woman had turned up at her classroom asking to speak with ‘April’, but was turned away.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness also welcomed the conviction in the high-public interest case, saying as a society “we cannot countenance or tolerate such vicious attacks on our children”.

Holness praised the team of detectives, led by the now-retired Deputy Police Commissioner Fitz Bailey, for “conducting a thorough investigation and compiling strong evidence”.

editorial@gleanerjm.com

Case timeline

- June 8, 2023: Eight-year-old Danielle Rowe is abducted while waiting with her brother to be picked up from the Braeton Primary and Infant School in Portmore, St Catherine. The grade two student was found about 4:30 p.m. by motorists after she wandered into the roadway along Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew with blood coming from her neck. She was taken to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

- June 10, 2023: Danielle dies in hospital.

- June 13, 2023: The police release an image, developed using an electronic facial identification technique, of the woman they believe may be able to provide information regarding the case.

- June 19, 2023: A post-mortem examination reveals that Danielle’s death was caused by an incised wound to the neck.

- July 23, 2023: Danielle Rowe is laid to rest.

- August 11, 2023: Thirty-one-year-old Kayodi Satchell is taken into custody in relation to Danielle’s murder. The dental assistant was apprehended at her workplace in the Corporate Area.

- August 25, 2023: Kayodi Satchell is positively identified in an identification parade. The suspect was an intimate partner of Danille’s father, a serving police officer.

- August 28, 2023: Kayodi Satchell is charged with child stealing and murder following a question and answer session.

- September 13, 2023: With tears flowing down the cheeks, a hysterical Kayodi Satchell denies killing Danielle Rowe as she made her first appearance for a committal proceeding in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court. Her attorney said she is”very surprised that someone would want to accuse her of this act. ... She looks forward to having her day in court, so her name can be cleared.”

- September 24, 2024: Kayodi Satchell pleads guilty to child stealing and murder.

- November 14, 2024: Kayodi Satchell to be sentenced.