ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – Detective Sergeant Sheldon Dobson, whose 18-month-old daughter died after being left unattended in his car for several hours last year, had his bail extended when he appeared in the St Elizabeth Parish Court in Balaclava on Tuesday for a committal hearing.

Dobson, who appeared before presiding Judge Brodrick Smith, is to return to court on February 28.

His attorney, Thomas Levene told OBSERVER ONLINE that the hearing was adjourned as the court had other responsibilities.

“It was a relatively short day, because the court had to adjourn for some other responsibilities. We officially started going through the documents (evidence), but we had to stop, so we will be finishing up in February,” he said.

Dobson had been offered bail in the sum of $750,000 when he first appeared in court on August 15.

READ: Bail extended for cop who left child in car

On January 17, 2022, Dobson, during a change of routine, left his baby daughter in his car for hours when he got to work at the Black River police station. The child, Shaleah Dobson, died two days later at hospital.

READ: One-year-old girl dies after left unattended in locked car by police dad

Reports at the time indicated that the child would have been cared for on a daily basis by her maternal grandmother, while her parents were at work, but a day-care arrangement was made after the grandmother fell ill.

The detective sergeant in his rush to start work, is said to have forgotten the little girl on the backseat of the car, and drove off in a police service vehicle to Warminster, south-east St Elizabeth, about a 45-minute trip by road from Black River, to carry out a further probe into the case of a former Haitian official who was held on January 15, 2022 along with his wife, and two children.

The detective sergeant is assigned to the Black River police station, while the child’s mother is a sergeant of police in the same St Elizabeth Division.

– Kasey Williams