A young father who shook his six-month-old baby so hard the "helpless infant" was brain damaged denied anything was wrong for days before telling police he was concerned enough to search head injuries online.
The man, who cannot be named, became so frustrated while caring for his baby son and a toddler overnight he shook the unsettled, crying baby causing catastrophic, life-threatening injuries, a court heard.
When his estranged partner asked about a small dot in their baby's eye the following day the then 21-year-old did not admit what happened.
Another day later he said the boy was “fine” after checking on the baby when the mother expressed concern.
The father called an ambulance that afternoon in May 2020 when his son made unusual noises and had seizures, but did not tell paramedics about the shaking.
Instead he told police the baby had fallen off the couch and accidentally knocked his head on a wall.
“You said that you were sufficiently concerned that you googled what to do if a toddler gets a head injury,” Brisbane District Court Judge Vicki Loury said in sentencing the father on Thursday.
He claimed to a psychiatrist he gently shook his son to make sure the baby slept.
But none of the accounts explained the catastrophic, life-threatening injury inflicted on the baby, Judge Loury said.
The now three-year-old has the developmental age of a child younger than six months, is visually impaired, unable to swallow and fed through a tube, and has cerebral palsy.
“You were his father, you should have been protecting him and instead you shook him so forcefully that he’s been left with permanent brain damage," Judge Loury said.
“He was only six months old - a helpless infant.”
The father's actions were not calculated, occurring on the spur of the moment and arising out of anger and frustration at his inability to deal with the unsettled baby.
"But you concealed his injuries for a significant period of time despite his mother expressing concern about him," Judge Loury told the man.
The now 24-year-old was sentenced on Thursday to six years behind bars for grievous bodily harm (domestic violence offence).
Judge Loury ordered he be eligible for parole after serving two years in custody, taking into account a guilty plea days before going to trial.
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