true crime

Brisbane father who tortured and killed his 13-month-old son to serve just 6 years in jail.

What was meant to be a two-day bonding between father and son turned horrific when a Brisbane father deliberately burned his toddler’s foot on a kitchen stove and threw him against a wall leaving the toddler with injuries so traumatic he died two days later.

The 29-year-old man had temporary custody of the little boy for two days in December 2012 after his reluctant mother agreed to let the father take the little boy to his home.

The man pleaded guilty. Via 7 News.

The father had initially reached out to the baby’s mother when the little boy turned one via Facebook asking to see photos of him, and then a month later she agreed to allow him temporary custody for two days.

A court has heard that when the child didn't want to be near his father the man lashed out.

Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle told the court the man had deliberately burned his son’s left foot on the kitchen stove after he “threw” the boy across the lounge-room into a wall, causing head injuries he would later die from.

 

The man burnt the baby's foot on the stove. Via IStock.

In distressing evidence a doctor told the court that the child would have suffered “severe physical pain and suffering”.

The man killed his son during his only ever custody visit.

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During the two days the boy was in his father’s care, the child’s mother repeatedly called the man and sent him texts demanding he return baby reports The Courier Mail.

The 29-year-old would only respond:

“No he’s alright”.

When the baby’s mother demanded to know the address of where they were staying the man responded via text: “I’m the biological father you can’t do anything”.

The court heard that the 13-month old was thrown brutally against the lounge room wall causing injuries that led others in the home to ask him to stop.

The man killed his son during his only ever custody visit. Via 7 News.

The man’s girlfriend, who was present at the time, begged him to return the baby to his mother but the man then only threatened her with violence saying that he would kick her in the face after she tried to shield his son from the father’s rage.

Mr Boyle said that the man’s girlfriend’s and her sister told him the baby needed attention and didn’t “look right.”

He said that when the child was suffering swelling of the brain and after the girlfriend had left the home to go to McDonalds’s to get dinner the man burned the child’s foot on the stove.

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“(This) can only be described as a callous and deliberately cruel act toward the child, given the child had already suffered the injury which led to the child’s death,” Mr Boyle said.

The baby died in hospital two days later. Via IStock.

The girlfriend of the man later called an ambulance, but the baby died in hospital two days later on December 30th 2012.

The Courier Mail reports that the man told his girlfriend at the time to lie to the police and say the toddler was “dopey and kept falling over all the time” and he had “walked over the stove” after sitting on the kitchen bench.

He told his girlfriend in a recorded phone call: “I’ve got no remorse for nobody’s passing. I just got no feeling”.

He said at first the injuries were caused when his son slipped in the bath. Via IStock.

He told police initially that the baby boy slipped in the bath, before later pleaded guilty to torture and manslaughter charges against his son.

The man was jailed for eight years and will have to serve 80% of that sentence.

Justice Roslyn Atkinson activated the man's 14-month suspended term and also declared him a serious violent offender which means he will have to serve at least 80 per cent of that eight-year term.

While the court heard that a psychological report found the man has a “high risk” of killing again he could be free in just six years.

For help: Lifeline 13 11 14. Kid's Helpline: 1800 55 1800. Men's helpline: 1300 78 99 78