ABC’s Rebecca Levingston breaks down over Mason Lee case

AN ABC Brisbane breakfast radio presenter has broken down live on air during an emotional segment discussing the horrific crime against toddler Mason Lee.

AN ABC Brisbane breakfast radio presenter has broken down live on air during an emotional segment discussing the horrific crime against toddler Mason Lee, who died in 2016.

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The details were only made public yesterday, a week after stepfather William Andrew O’Sullivan pleaded guilty to manslaughter and child cruelty offences.

The court heard O’Sullivan had hit the toddler so hard his organs ruptured, before leaving him in agony for days as he slowly died.

Despite his horrific actions, O’Sullivan will be eligible for parole after just six years — two of which he has already served.

The sentence has caused public outrage.

To discuss the sentence process, ABC breakfast hosts Rebecca Levingston and Craig Zonca were joined this morning by Queensland Law Society deputy president Bill Potts.

Mr Potts talked through the process and addressed community condemnation of the sentence.

Caboolture toddler Mason Lee

His stepfather and killer Andrew William O'Sullivan

Levingston became overwhelmed when she responded to Mr Potts, when he said in a case such as this, while outrageous and challenging, people shouldn’t just react emotionally but with “evidence-based views, as to what the community standards are and what penalties ought to be applied”.

“It is very difficult for people not to react emotionally,” Levingston said.

“And Bill, you would know yourself that in the reporting of this story, the details of the neglect and the level of injuries to this little boy has been laid out in horrific detail.

“There’s an image in the paper this morning, with lines pointing to nearly every part of this child’s body,” Levingston said before clearing her throat.

“I guess what I wanted to ask is, for people feeling disempowered or upset, what they can do,” she continued in a cracking voice.

Mr Potts replied: “They can write to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory and tell them what they feel, what they think ought to happen.

“They can talk to their members of parliament, who in fact control the legislation.

“People are not powerless. People have a voice and that voice should be heard, so make it known and make it heard and have your say.”

You can visit the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council website.

Bill Potts

Rebecca Levingston

‘Consider all the facts’

Mr Potts later said debate around sentencing should be robust — but reasoned.

He said the public was “rightly outraged” over Mason Lee’s death.

“The death of a child lessens us all … it’s simply against the order of nature,” he said.

“Particularly a child who is vulnerable, who is defenceless, and who would expect both love and care from those who had that duty to him.

“But the courts are not there to reflect mob mentality, but rather have to base their views reflecting public expectation and the objective seriousness of the offending.

“I’d urge calm, but debate is always a healthy thing.”

Mr Potts urged people to read Chief Justice Catherine Holmes’s judgment in sentencing O’Sullivan to nine years’ jail with a non-parole period of six.

“The sentencing discretion is one of the hardest tasks of judicial officers, and in this case — while I think public debate is excellent, because the justice system belongs to everybody — the debate has to be based on a close reading of all of the circumstances, rather than just a visceral gut reaction,” he said.

Labelling O’Sullivan’s actions a “failure of humanity”, Mr Potts said the Chief Justice also had to consider his time in jail, which has seen him hospitalised after being “ remorselessly bashed”.

“While some people may regard that as getting off lightly compared to Mason Lee, the court had to take into account all of the circumstances both of the offending and of the defendant,” he said.

The veteran lawyer said he was looking forward to the Sentencing Advisory Council’s review of child homicide sentencing due next month.