Nicholas Trent Masling jailed for shaking infant daughter

A father who inflicted a catastrophic brain injury upon his premature newborn daughter – who later died – could be out of jail by 2028.

A father who “violently shook” his “utterly vulnerable and innocent” premature newborn – who later died – because she woke him could be released from prison in less than five years.

Father-of-seven, Nicholas Trent Masling, 34, was “pissed off” when he awoke about noon on June 5, 2016, to his 41-day-old infant’s cries after being up late smoking cannabis the night before.

He was annoyed at being asked to pick up the child, who he thought should have already been fed.

The girl, whose corrected age at the time was just two-weeks-old, suffered a catastrophic brain injury and required around the clock nursing care for the following 17 months, before she died in hospital in November 2017.

In sentencing in the Supreme Court, Justice Anne Bampton said after shaking the infant “violently” to stop her from crying, Masling left the room. When he returned the infant was “completely still” with a purple face.

Nicholas Masling leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court at an earlier hearing. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

He first called his mother, then emergency services.

“You forcefully shook her in circumstances where you were upset and frustrated by her crying,” she said.

She said he told the triple-0 operator the infant had been “going of her tits” after she woke before “all of a sudden” stopping crying or breathing.

Doctors found she had sustained “a very severe, irreversible brain injury” which affected her ability to “move spontaneously, think, swallow, see and hear”.

“(Her) only ability at nine months was to smile in response to a voice,” Justice Bampton said.

She said doctors had predicted the infant’s death was inevitable and she later died in hospital after contracting pneumonia.

Justice Bampton said Masling’s offending was particularly serious due to his child’s vulnerability.

“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,” she said.

She said Masling had pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter – which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison – due to an unlawful and dangerous act.

In intercepted communications between Masling and his mother, and the child’s mother, Justice Bampton said Masling had “tried to find ways of avoiding being blamed for what happened”.

She said in a victim impact statement, the child’s mother said she felt shocked, hurt, confused and betrayed.

Justice Bampton said experts believed Masling – who had used illicit substances for years – was “likely irritable” on the morning because he had not yet used cannabis.

“Until you stop smoking weed and using methamphetamine, you cannot expect to be a fully functioning parent,” she said.

She said Masling lacked insight into the impact of his drug abuse on the offending but accepted he was “traumatised” and “very sorry” for his offending.

After discounts for his plea and time spent on home detention bail, Justice Bampton set a head sentence of nine years and two months with a non-parole period of seven years, three months and six days.

It was backdated to November 4, 2020, when his bail was revoked. He will be eligible for parole in February 2028.