Benjamin McPartland to be under supervision for 18 months after jail term for manslaughter of Chloe Valentine ends

A man jailed over the death of Chloe Valentine will remain electronically monitored for 18 months and subject to multiple conditions, a court has ruled.

A man who repeatedly forced a four-year-old girl to ride a motorbike, despite her continual crashes that led to fatal injuries, has been placed on an 18-month extended supervision order.

Benjamin Robert McPartland, 35, was jailed in 2014 for the manslaughter of Chloe Valentine, who died in 2012 after she was forced to keep riding the motorbike around the backyard of the family’s Ingle Farm home.

McPartland and Chloe’s mother, Ashlee Polkinghorne, laughed as they video recorded her repeated falls from the bike over a three-day period.

In the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Louise Kleinig, for Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, said an agreement had been reached about the extended supervision order.

The order starts immediately and includes a condition McPartland undertake any treatment or programs as directed, including parenting courses.

Justice Anne Bampton imposed the order with multiple conditions, including wearing an electronic monitoring device and being placed under the supervision of a community corrections officer.

The order blocks him from having contact with a child aged under 15.

Under the order, McPartland, of Salisbury Downs, must refrain from using alcohol or drugs, unless prescribed, or attending at a licensed premises without prior approval.

He is banned from possessing a firearm or ammunition or any other prohibited weapon or leaving South Australia without permission.

“You will attend, undertake and satisfactorily complete any assessments, counselling, treatment, programs or interventions as directed by your community corrections officer or as ordered by the parole board including treatment for substance abuse, psychological assessment, counselling and treatment, parenting skills programs, employment capacity assessments and domestic violence prevention programs,” she said.

Benjamin McPartland leaving the Adelaide Supreme Court after an earlier hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

McPartland was also banned from contacting Polkinghorne or her family members.

At an earlier hearing, in March, the court heard McPartland had been assessed at low risk of violent reoffending and had made some progress in his rehabilitation.

At the time, his parole was due to expire so he was placed on an interim order with similar restrictions. The interim order was superseded by the extended supervision order imposed on Wednesday.

In 2014, McPartland was given a sentencing discount for his early plea to the manslaughter charge. He was jailed for seven years with a non-parole period of four years and two months.

Chloe Valentine.

He and Polkinghorne failed to get help when Chloe became unconscious and she lay in a “semi-vegetative state” for eight-and-a-half hours before an ambulance was finally called.

When taken to hospital, she was so swollen and bruised that other family members could not recognise her.

The court heard McPartland first became eligible for parole in May 2018 but was not released for a further 10 months to allow him time to complete an anti-violence program.

In October 2019, he returned to prison for more than five weeks, after he breached parole by returning a positive drug test.

He was released but later arrested over another breach – being unaccompanied in the presence of a child under 15 – and spent a further four months in custody.

At the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Bampton bid McPartland luck while under the order.

“I wish you well in getting on with your life,” she said.