The man who killed 22-month-old Queensland boy Mason Jet Lee has had his jail term increased from nine to 12 years.
But an appeal against the sentence given to the toddler’s mother Anne Maree Lee was dismissed in the Queensland Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
The increased sentenced handed to Lee’s then partner William Andrew O’Sullivan took into account the serious “deliberate infliction of fatal violence” by an adult on an infant in care, the appeal judges said.He had been punched in the abdomen days earlier, the blow rupturing his small intestine and causing his death.The pair pleaded guilty in February to Mason’s manslaughter and cruelty to a child by failing to get him medical treatment.
O’Sullivan and Lee were each sentenced to nine years in jail for manslaughter. Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath appealed for more jail time for the pair, saying their sentences were manifestly inadequate. The appeal court found Lee had let O’Sullivan keep Mason in his house even though she knew he was a heavy meth user and given to paranoia and violent rages.
But Lee’s neglect could not be compared with an unlawful killing of a child by a deliberate violent act, the appeal judges said.The Queensland Government has been accused of a 'cover up' after withholding the full report into Child Safety's handling of Mason Jet Lee.
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