A DeKalb County mother of five pleaded not guilty Monday to murder and child cruelty charges in the house fire deaths of her children last year.
Rockell Coleman appeared in Superior Court in the deaths of her sons Jabari, 3, Preston, 4, and Javis, 10, who died from injuries they suffered in the Dec. 12 fire. `Two surviving children, Shamari, 4, and A.J., 9, were placed in state custody.
Coleman, then 28, left her children unattended despite being warned by neighbors that her children were allegedly starting fires in the house near Decatur when left alone, prosecutor Mirna Andrews said at a January hearing.
“They were lighting leaves in a pan to get warm while the mother was at a warm restaurant eating dinner with friends,” Andrews said. “There was no heat, no electricity in that house….We have statements from the neighbors of the children begging for food.”
Coleman told police she was working - handing out fliers for a tax-preparation service - when the fire occurred about 11 p.m. at her home on Misty Valley Road. She said her roommate was supposed to be with the children while she worked.
After the January hearing, Coleman’s mother, Lydia Pinckney, contended her daughter struggled financially with little child support from any of the three men who fathered the children and was bettering herself by taking classes to prepare herself for a job in income-tax preparation.
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