Tashieka Mair, Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

A man, who allegedly punched his two-year-old daughter to death, was remanded yesterday after a failed bail application in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court in St James.

Rohan Cole, a 37-year-old truck driver of Washington Gardens in Kingston and Lottery in St James, is scheduled to return to court on June 3.

The court heard, by way of the post-mortem report, that Sedricka Cole died as a result of blunt trauma to the abdomen, which caused blood loss and damage to the intestines. The injuries are said to be consistent with a forceful punch to the stomach.

However, defence attorney Earnest Davis argued the report was contradictory, as there was a section where the doctor stated that he could not say what the cause of death was.

Evidence weak

Davis also said his client had always been living in Kingston and had turned himself in after he heard the police were looking for him. He pleaded for bail, stating the evidence against Cole was "weak".

However, the court was informed that Cole was from Kingston but had been living in Montego Bay, since December 2007, after losing his job.

Allegations are that on April 12, Sedricka's mother fled and left her in Cole's care in Lottery to go to a party. The mother returned home the following morning and found the child lying face down in her own vomit.

It is said that the mother observed redness around the child's navel. When she questioned the accused about what was wrong with the child, he allegedly told her that he had punched her.

Further allegations are that the mother took Sedricka to the hospital where the toddler was admitted. The court heard that on April 13, Sedricka told the mother that Cole hit her in the belly. The child died the following day.

Cole was held in Half-Way Tree two days later.