'Sheer evil': Child killer Kayodi Satchell sentenced to life in prison

By Racquel Porter 

  

Kayodi Satchell, the woman who confessed to killing eight-year-old Danielle Rowe last June, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

 

Satchell is to serve 27 years and four months before she's eligible for parole.

 

She was also sentenced to six years and three months for child stealing.

 

"Sheer evil" is how Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell described the ordeal Danielle Rowe experienced on June 8, 2023.

 

Addressing Satchell, Justice Tie-Powell lamented that to kill a defenceless human being is vile, but to kill an innocent eight-year-old child can only be regarded as evil.

 

The judge explained to Satchell that only a term of life imprisonment is appropriate for the reprehensible, wicked, callous, heinous act she had done.

 

Justice Tie-Powell pointed out that Satchell's actions have resulted in a mother burying her child, which is unnatural in the ordinary scheme of life.

 

Earlier in the proceedings, Justice Tie-Powell made it clear that Satchell's submission that she killed Danielle because she allegedly contracted HIV from the child's father, which resulted in the loss of her pregnancy, is not a mitigating factor.

 

Balancing the aggravating factors, the judge pointed out that Danielle was unarmed, defenceless, helpless and vulnerable.

 

The judge said the fact that the eight-year-old was taken from her school, a place where she ought to feel safe, speaks to Satchell's brazenness.

 

Highlighting the nature of the killing, Justice Tie-Powell pointed out that Satchell had Danielle in her company for close to two hours before slitting her throat with a knife.

 

The judge found that there was a significant level of premeditation.

 

The court was told that Satchell confessed to killing Danielle on her expected due date.

 

Another aggravating factor was the impact on Danielle's family.

 

In the meantime, Danielle's mother Sudeen Mason, having heard Friday that Satchell killed her daughter on her expected due date, withdrew her forgiveness.

 

"I [initially] felt really sorry for her because I'm saying that Danielle's father was the reason why she did what she did, even though it was wrong; he gave her a sickness that she had to live with for the rest of her life. So I felt sorry for her at that time when she told me sorry. But hearing what I heard just now, I've changed my mind," said the grieving mother.   

 

While Ms. Mason is pleased with the sentence, she also reminisced on Christmas with Danielle, recalling how she would usually hide gifts around the house for her daughter. Now, the mother bemoaned that Christmas will be difficult without her child.