Aurora – The mother of a dead 3-year-old girl was denied a reduction in bail this morning in Arapahoe County District Court.
Susie Ida Quartey must remain in jail under a $500,000 bond since she was arrested Saturday. She is being held under a suicide watch until she is formally charged on April 12.
Her attorney argued for a lower bail, saying Quartey, 34 and a native of Ghana, has been working three jobs and has the support of her church, a dozen of whom showed up for the hearing this morning.
“She needs to get back to work,” attorney Thomas Miller told Arapahoe County District Judge Anne Ollada. “She needs to be given the opportunity to grieve.”
Quartey, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit with her hands and feet shackled, cried through portions of the hearing.
But Judge Ollada sided with prosecutors, who said the seriousness of the crime didn’t deserve a bond reduction.
Police said the girl, Jolyn Torpoh, was battered repeatedly with pieces of a metal towel rack and a coat hanger before she died.
Detectives who viewed autopsy photographs estimated that Jolyn suffered at least 50 blows, leaving puncture wounds and bruises along her legs, face and backside, according to an arrest affidavit obtained Monday.
Quartey told police she was carrying Jolyn on her back, wrapped in traditional African cloths when she and her daughter fell together onto rocks in the family’s backyard.
“The mother is in an absolute state of horror. This child was loved. This child was not beaten by her mother,” Miller said.
The coroner has not yet determined a cause of death and is waiting for lab and toxicology results.
Miller accused police of violating Quartey’s civil rights by questioning her for eight hours straight and arresting her hours after the child died, depriving her of a chance to grieve.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on her because her residency status is in question.
