Suspect in Rose Hall baby killing said he wanted to make ‘sacrifice’

A 22-year-old Rose Hall man was spared from jungle justice after he was apprehended by police in connection with the murder of a one-year-old baby.

Baby Janae reportedly died on Saturday, February, 10, after she was kidnapped from her home and her throat slit.

News of the baby’s death started to circulate around the country later that night and has since been featured in regional media outlets.

On Saturday evening, sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m, the suspect reportedly entered the family home of Jonessa Samuel, the baby’s mother, and removed the infant.

Pictured at right: A section of the angry mob gathered outside the Police Station from around 9 p.m. to around 2 a.m.

When Samuel recognized that the infant was not inside, she raised the alarm immediately alerting Rose Hall resident, Lenroy Robertson.

Robertson recounted the details of the fateful evening when he discovered the lifeless body of baby Janae in a conversation with police officers and Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves who visited the district on February 12.

He revealed that the suspect had spoken about harming the infant before Saturday’s tragic incident.

“He ah say he have to make a sacrifice because the child is a demon child.”

Robertson said that he went to run an errand in the late afternoon and when he returned to Samuel’s house that evening, he was informed that baby Janae was missing.

Residents from the area gather for a closer look.

“… as soon as me reach up by the gate, me hear she [mother] ah bawl ‘[Suspect] gone with the youth’.”

Robertson said he launched into a search of the surrounding houses but was unable to locate the baby. He speculated that due to the close proximity of the houses to the mother’s residence, the suspect may have seen him moving through the area in search of the infant.

“When me run come down hay, he [suspect] probably done see me. Me don’t know if he [cover] up the youth mouth, or he lay down here so. Because when I come back, I see all here [grass] mash down. I don’t know if he lay down with the youth. If he hold she mouth or he was done kill she at that moment.”

Robertson said he widened the area and kept searching for the baby, even telling Samuel not to accompany him, as he believed her crying would alert the suspect that he was being sought.

“I go back round and tell them that I not see the youth. Me tell she me don’t want you behind ah me. Let me go by me self. I want to travel by me self because if you bawl in case of anything [suspect] would hear you crying and he could hide away. “

Lenroy Robertson who found the baby (backing wall in black shirt) is being comforted by residents of the area.

It was during a subsequent search of a neighbouring backyard that the baby was discovered in a pool of blood just 51 yards away from her home.

It is believed that the suspect fled from the mother’s residence with the child, scaled an adjoining wall to the property and killed the child in a bushy yard.

A manhunt was launched and the suspect was eventually apprehended and carried to the Rose Hall District Police Station.

An angry mob, comprising of residents from Troumaca, Coulls Hill and other surrounding villages, gathered outside the station around 9:00 p.m. Tempers flared, and the mob started stoning the station and calling for the suspect to be released.

The police responded by firing warning shots in the air. SEARCHLIGHT understands that the crowd eventually dispersed around 2:00 a.m.

The suspect was then transported to another station for holding until a charge is officially laid.