A woman in Jamaica has been sentenced to life in prison for the brutal slaying of an 8-year-old girl whom she kidnapped from school in 2023 before slitting the girl’s throat as part of a twisted revenge plot against the child’s father.
Kayodi Satchell was convicted in September after she pleaded guilty to killing Danielle Rowe after snatching the girl from Braeton Primary and Infant School in Portmore, Catherine, on June 8, 2023.
On the day of the murder, Satchell took the girl to a remote location in St. Andrew, where she fed the child a last meal before pulling a knife and slashing her to death.
The motive, prosecutors said, grew out of “frustration and bitterness” at being jilted by the child’s father, who infected her with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
During sentencing, Satchell, who was said to have suffered a miscarriage before killing the girl, wiped away tears and blew her nose, seeming visibly upset and remorseful. Rowe’s mother, Sudine Mason, also wept alongside emotional court members. Supreme Court Judge Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell showed no mercy in handing down a life sentence in the Home Circuit Division in downtown Kingston, the Jamaica Observer reported.
More than a year has passed since a member of the Jamaica Defense Force discovered the mortally wounded girl on Roosevelt Avenue, bleeding from the neck. She died in the hospital two days later.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Pierre Rogers pleaded for leniency from Judge Tie-Powell, arguing that Satchell’s actions before the killing demonstrated “she did not steal the child away with the premeditated intent of doing the child harm” but that she was actually crying out for help.
Rogers explained that Satchell’s actions were triggered by a message from Danielle’s father during their “stormy and unfortunate relationship.” The message, sent via social media, bluntly stated, “If yuh know wah good fi yuh, yuh go test yu self fi HIV.”
Rogers explained that Satchell was crushed by the breakup, and the situation was exacerbated by the fact that she was pregnant at the time. The ordeal led his client to endure a second-trimester miscarriage. Rogers stated that his client, after enduring her ordeal, held the belief that it was “a child for a child.”
“That’s what it came down to, his child versus the loss of their child… She now knows that it was wrong, it did not start out as premeditation, but towards the end, after several telephone calls to get attention from the persons she thought were in a position to give her attention; when that failed she descended into a state of frustration and bitterness,” Rogers said.
The attorney informed the court that his client made repeated efforts to have her partner prosecuted, believing he had deliberately spread the virus, but her attempts were dismissed by authorities.
He stated that Satchell’s mental state deteriorated further on the day Danielle was taken from school, as the woman had made numerous calls to the father, his parents, and even an official at his workplace, seeking attention for her distress, but was ultimately ignored.
“She did not steal the child away with the premeditated intent of doing the child harm; rather, it was a desperate cry for help from her to the father,” Rogers insisted.
“We are not hiding behind this, it is clear in my mind that it did not affect her ability to tell right from wrong, what it does do is set out the context within which she was operating. What it does show is that she acted in a manner that was wrong and caused hurt,” the attorney told the court, adding that all those once close to Satchell have since distanced themselves from her.
Previously, Rogers acknowledged that the judge would likely find it difficult to consider a sentence shorter than life and proposed a starting point of “somewhere between 30 and 35 years,” factoring in discounts for her guilty plea, remorse, and time already served in custody.
“I don’t have any forgiveness for her,” Sudine Mason said outside the courtroom after the sentence.
The grieving mother explained that she had to leave her job. Her other two children, traumatized by the loss, are scared to leave the house. She added that her eldest daughter, in deep pain, has attempted suicide four times, become extremely angry, and refuses to talk about her feelings, according to Jamaica Observer.
The senior Supreme Court registrar struggled to finish reading the victim impact statements, apologizing to the judge as he wiped away tears. Similarly, a Department of Corrections officer, overcome with emotion, closed her eyes and clutched the documents tightly.
