Crack addict William Andrew O’Sullivan was given a nine-year sentence after pleading guilty to four charges related to the death of little Mason Jet Lee.
During the 37-year-old’s sentence hearing, O’Sullivan’s lawyer Ruth O’Gorman told Queensland Supreme Court he had been badly beaten by two inmates and left with serious head injuries.
The court heard he suffered a severely fractured skull and spent 13 days in hospital recovering.
Mason was found with extensive injuries at O’Sullivan’s home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, in June 2016.
Ms O’Gorman also said O’Sullivan had admitted for the first time that he was responsible for inflicting the blow or blows which eventually led to the death of Mason between two to five days later in June 2016.
O’Sullivan, who was the child’s stepfather and primary carer at the time of his death, ignored obvious signs Mason was in pain and failed to seek urgent medical care.
The court heard Mason endured serious neglect, including in the months prior where he was left untreated for a fractured leg and other serious injuries including a ruptured intestine.
In addition to his injuries, traces of the drug methamphetamine were found in his blood.
O’Sullivan, a self-described drug addict, originally tried to blame Mason’s death on paramedics responding too slowly after he was admitted to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital for three weeks in February 2016.
But it emerged they arrived at the property just six minutes after they were called.
O’Sullivan also tried to shift the blame onto his 12-year-old daughter and claimed she could have beaten the toddler.
He eventually pleaded guilty to four separate charges, including manslaughter and cruelty to a child under 16-years-old.
In sentencing, Chief Justice Catherine Holmes said although Mason’s condition would have been “wretched and painful”, O’Sullivan did nothing to help him.
The judge told him: “He was a defenceless toddler and you seemed to have taken out your anger and frustration against him by the assault that caused the fatal injuries.
“He was not treated with any gentleness or kindness.
“Worse, you did nothing to get help for him despite what would have been his evident distress.”