Burpengary father Rick Cataldo to be sentenced over death of baby Lily Rain

A BRISBANE father of two who fatally bashed his baby daughter – crushing her skull – then refused to take the screaming child to hospital for ten days will be sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Rick Cataldo was arraigned in the Supreme Court on July 6 and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. An earlier charge of murder was dropped.

A BRISBANE father of two who fatally bashed his seven week old daughter – crushing her skull – then refused to take the screaming child to hospital for ten days will be sentenced on Monday.

Rick Cataldo, 29, a former pizza delivery driver from Burpengary was in the Supreme Court in Brisbane today where he appeared before Justice Debra Mullins.

Cataldo was arraigned in the Supreme Court on July 6 and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. An earlier charge of murder was dropped.

Prosecutor Carl Heaton QC told the court today that Cataldo fractured baby Lily Rain’s skull on April 29, 2012 with at least one blow to her head.

She died on May 8, 2012 from head injuries after Cataldo refused to allow his defacto partner Michelle Catherine Leask to take Lily to hospital.

Leask, who gave evidence against Cataldo, was given a wholly-suspended five year sentence for Lily’s manslaughter for not taking Lily to hospital where her life could have been saved.

Cataldo initially lied to police at Redcliffe hospital on the day of Lilys death, telling them “I dropped Lily and she hit her head” and he later told Leask to “tell the hospital that the bruises” were “from you getting her tangled up in the seatbelt getting out of the car and you accidentally dropping her”.

Rick Cataldo initially lied to police at Redcliffe hospital on the day of Lilys death.

“Tell them she died in a cot with a blanket over her face, and that you found her in a cot with bedclothes pulled around her almost covering her face,” Cataldo told Leask.

He also initially described an incident to police in which he suggested Lily had rolled off a bed during a game he was playing with her.

Cataldo’s barrister Craig Eberhardt told the court today that at the time he killed his baby Cataldo was “selfish and self-centred” and was a heavy cannabis user and drinker.

“He feels genuinely guilty and ashamed,” Mr Eberhardt told the court.

Mr Heaton told the court that an autopsy conducted on May 9 revealed Lily was likely beaten on one day – April 29, the day of an important family birthday.

She had six fractures to her skull on both sides and the back of her head and an injury to her brain stem and spinal cord which almost reached the degree of force found in “baby shaking” cases.

She also suffered a spiral fracture to her arm and rib fractures likely to be caused by “crushing” or “compression to the chest”.

Paediatric neurologist Geoffrey Wallace told police that Lily probably would have survived if appropriate treatment were given, but its likely she would have cognitive and physical difficulties and epilepsy.

The court heard today that Cataldo has already served three years and ten months in pre-sentence custody.

On July 14 he was returned to prison after he was kicked out of rehab in Toowoomba on July 10 and that was part of his bail conditions.

In February he was arrested after he tried to punch his dad, and he had to be arrested by the dog squad at his dad’s Burpengary home. He invited the dog squad cop to fight him. “Come on, let’s go” he said.

Cataldo became violent after his dad took away his drugs.

Justice Mullins adjourned the case until Monday at 9.15am citing her need to “reflect” on submissions due to the “great public interest” in the case.