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How gaming addict, 23, who killed his seven-week-old son in a fit of rage while playing PlayStation and then fled hospital when confronted about the boy’s horrific injuries could walk free from jail after five years
- Joseph William McDonald, 23, has admitted to causing his newborn son’s death
- The nine week old baby sustained serious head injuries at his home
- His father was playing Playstation when he got frustrated and lashed out
- McDonald pleaded guilty to child homicide at Victoria’s Supreme Court
- On Tuesday he was sentenced to nine years in jail but could walk in just over five
A gaming addict who was struggling with anger management issues when he killed his baby son could walk free in a little over five years.
Joseph William McDonald, 23, pleaded guilty to killing his son in a fit of rage.
On Tuesday, Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Stephen Kaye sentenced the brute to nine years in jail with a non-parole period of six years and eight months.
Joseph William McDonald on Tuesday where he was sentenced to jail for killing his own baby
Joseph McDonald’s (pictured) son Lucas was brought into Benalla hospital, in north-east Victoria, on October 25 with ‘life-threatening’ injuries. He pleaded guilty to one count of child homicide at Victoria’s Supreme Court and was sentenced on Tuesday
With more than a year already served, the baby killer could walk in a little over five years.
McDonald had pleaded guilty to one count of child homicide.
‘It is important that the sentence which I impose on you is sufficient to ensure that you yourself learn that any further violence of the kind in which you engaged in this case will be met with severe consequences,’ Justice Kaye said.
He further stated the sentence ought be great enough to serve as a general deterrent to the community.
McDonald’s newborn baby Lucas was unable to be revived when he sustained a serious head injury at his home in Benalla, in Victoria’s north east on October 24 last year.
His newborn baby Lucas was unable to be revived when he sustained a serious head injury at his home in Benalla, in Victoria’s north east on October 24 last year
The court heard McDonald was in the midst of a PlayStation game when he became frustrated and lashed out at the child.
He had been shaken and had ‘blunt force’ injuries to his spine and head.
In the weeks leading up the incident the child’s father had been searching for treatment for anger management issues online.
He had also messaged his partner Samatha Duckmanton apologising for being the ‘worst father’ and the ‘worst partner’.
In the same series of messages he told her he would put her and their children first and ‘instantly hated’ himself for what he did to her.
Weeks later, on October 24, Ms Duckmanton overheard her son making a high pitch wailing noise while she was in the kitchen.
Her partner was in the lounge room with him playing PlayStation.
When she asked what the cry was about he told her he was ‘swaddling him’.
As baby Lucas had received his vaccinations that morning, his mother assumed he was simply having an adverse reaction which included refusing to drink milk.
But the small boy made no improvements overnight and after contacting the hospital multiple times she took him to the emergency ward at Benalla hospital.
He was later transferred to the Monash Children’s Hospital before being pronounced dead on October 29.
The court heard McDonald (pictured) was in the midst of a Playstation game when he became frustrated and lashed out at the child.
When hospital staff told them the injuries did not appear to be an accident, Ms Duckmanton confronted her partner.
At the time he said he had pushed too hard on the back of the child’s brain stem.
He then fled the hospital, prompting a state-wide manhunt.
Justice Kaye accepted that at the time of the attack, McDonald had been ‘young, immature and not coping with the pressures and demands of raising two very young children’.
McDonald had told a psychiatrist he had been heavily using cannabis at the time and playing video games for between six to 10 hours everyday.
‘You would become readily irate if you lost in a video game,’ Justice Kaye said.
Before McDonald handed himself in to police he was last seen leaving Monash Children’s Hospital after his son was pronounced dead
In a victim impact statement read out in court the baby’s devastated mother remembered the little boy who completed the family.
‘I instantly fell in love,’ she said.
‘You have completely broken my trust — you have absolutely betrayed me.’
‘Lucas deserved to feel safe and protected by his daddy. You do not deserve forgiveness — nor do you deserve the title of daddy.’
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