January 24 hearing for cop who left infant daughter in car

WESTERN BUREAU:

Detective Sergeant Sheldon Dobson, the policeman whose infant daughter died after being locked in his car at the Black River Police Station in January, will undergo a committal hearing on January 24, 2023, to determine whether he will stand trial in the St Elizabeth Circuit Court.

Dobson, who is charged with manslaughter in relation to the one-year-old child’s death, got the new date and had his bail extended when he made his latest appearance in the St Elizabeth Parish Court on Thursday.

Attorney Thomas Levine, who is representing Dobson, told The Gleaner that the prosecution provided him with its documents in the case and had also indicated its own readiness for the committal hearing.

“The matter was called up today [Thursday], and the matter is now set for committal hearing on January 24, 2023. Disclosure of documents was made to me, and the court indicated it is now ready to have a hearing in the matter, so that is why it was set for that date, where a determination will be made if the case will go to the Circuit Court,” said Levine.

St Elizabeth’s Senior Parish Judge Roderick Smith, who presided over Thursday’s court sitting, will be overseeing Dobson’s case when the committal hearing begins.

According to reports, on January 18 this year, Dobson was expected to have taken his daughter to daycare, but he allegedly forgot and went to work at the Black River Police Station at 8 a.m., leaving the child in his car.

The infant was found unconscious in the car hours later, at 4 p.m., and was rushed to the Black River Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

It is understood that while the child was normally left in the care of her grandmother, she was enrolled in daycare after the elderly woman fell ill. Dobson was tasked with dropping the child off at daycare on the day of her death, but he reportedly went to work while forgetting his daughter in the car.

Both of the child’s parents are reportedly employed to the Jamaica Constabulary Force [JCF].

In the immediate aftermath of the child’s death, relatives and friends of the family declared their support for the parents, while insisting that Dobson would not have deliberately left his daughter in the car.

In February, one month after the tragedy took place, a file was sent by the JCF to the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] for a ruling on whether Dobson should be charged in relation to the child’s death. That ruling came in June, when the DPP declared that Dobson should be charged.

Dobson made his first appearance before the St Elizabeth Parish Court’s Santa Cruz on August 15, where he was granted bail in the sum of $750,000 with surety.