A South Australian man has been sentenced to nine years in jail for causing the death of his two-week-old daughter by violently shaking her when he was frustrated because she was crying and had woken him up.
WARNING: This story contains content that some readers may find distressing
Nicholas Trent Masling last year pleaded guilty, just before he was due to stand trial in the South Australian Supreme Court, to his daughter's manslaughter.
The newborn – who cannot be identified for cultural reasons – sustained a "very severe and irreversible brain injury" through her father's crime and died 19 months later on November 25, 2017.
Masling was today sentenced to nine years and two months in jail but, with time already served in custody, will be eligible for parole in under five years.
The 36-year-old — who has fathered seven children — had removed his infant daughter from the pram where she had been sleeping in April 2016 while his then-partner prepared a bottle for her in the kitchen.
"You forcefully shook her in circumstances where you were upset and frustrated by her crying," Justice Anne Bampton said.
"You had very little to do with the care [of the baby] and your former partner was the primary carer.
"You report waking up in a bad and irritable mood due to lack of sleep, you had been smoking cannabis the previous night and into the early hours of the morning.
"You were pissed off [your former partner] asked you to help because you thought she should have fed the baby earlier."
During sentencing, Justice Bampton said health professionals knew the baby girl's death was "inevitable" from the injuries she sustained and Masling deserved "severe punishment".
"Your offending is particularly serious because [she] was an extremely vulnerable human and you as her father abused your position of trust and power," she said.
"She was a newborn born four weeks prematurely, she was living at home where she should have been nurtured and protected.
"She was completely dependent on her parents and so utterly vulnerable and innocent."
Masling tried to cover up crime
Justice Bampton said Masling did not tell his former partner, police or child protection authorities the truth about what happened, telling the ambulance operator at the time she had "just stopped crying, stopped breathing, gone blue in the face".
Masling then discussed with his mother ways to avoid being blamed, including other possible causes for her injuries.
The infant was taken to the Whyalla Hospital emergency department before being airlifted to the Women's and Children's Hospital.
After four months in hospital, she was discharged from hospital but required 24-hour nursing care and was placed in the care of an NDIS provider
"Her condition was so fragile that her day-to-day care was provided by enrolled and registered nurses to meet all her needs," Justice Bampton said.
The court heard health professionals concluded she would never be able to function independently and would never have "significantly improved" and was likely to have a short life.
She was in and out of hospital her whole life and spent the three months leading up to her death in hospital.
While on bail for his baby's manslaughter, Masling breached his bail at least five times.
