Danielle’s alleged killer appears in court on her birthday
SUDIENE Mason, mother of Danielle Rowe, has endured almost one year of pain, triggered by her daughter’s murder in June last year, and it didn’t make things any better for her on Thursday as she watched the alleged murderer, Kyodi Satchell, appear before a judge on her child’s birthday.
Had she not been murdered Danielle would have turned nine on Thursday.
Mason, along with Danielle’s elder sister, wore blue shirts with images of her to honour her on what would have been a special day had she not been brutally stolen from her family.
They also brought balloons along with them, which they had planned to place on Danielle’s grave at Dovecot Memorial Park and Crematorium. However, she was not able to make to her daughter’s graveside to celebrate her birthday because she felt pressured. On at least one occasion, she was overheard complaining that she was not feeling well.
A bewildered Mason said, “You wouldn’t understand how I feel. I don’t even know how to answer that question about how I felt when I looked at her [the alleged killer] in court. Danielle would have been nine years old today, Thursday. June 8 makes one year since she went missing”.
When she appeared before Justice Leighton Pusey on Thursday, Satchell was remanded in custody until June 6.
Her attorney Patrick Peterkin told journalists that, “June 6, we expect that we will finalise on the disclosure of documents so that we can see whether or not we are going to set a trial date.”
Satchell, a dental assistant, who police said was an intimate partner of Danielle’s father, was charged with kidnapping and murder in August 2023.
On June 8 last year, Danielle was abducted from Braeton Primary School in Portmore, St Catherine, and was later found on Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew with her throat slashed.
She died at the Bustamante Hospital for Children two days later. She was buried on July 23 last year.