Queensland man who tortured and killed ex-partner’s one-month-old girl jailed for nine years

SHE was a month old when she died - but not before she suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs and legs, a brain injury, and a damage liver and pancreas. The man who tortured and killed her was today jailed.

Michael John Humphreys has been jailed for nine years for the torture and manslaughter of a one-month-old girl. GENERIC PIC

A FATHER who tortured his newborn daughter until her death – at just 31 days old – had accused the baby’s mother of loving the child “more than him”, a court has heard.

Supreme Court Justice David Boddice told Michael John Humphreys the “callous” and “cruel” abuse he repeatedly inflicted on his helpless baby girl Paige was “inconceivable”.

Humphreys was today sentenced to nine years’ jail after pleading guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the torture and manslaughter of the infant, who died, just four weeks old, in September 2012.

Humphreys, who has already spent more than 1000 days in pre-sentence custody, must serve 80 per cent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

The court heard the infant was subjected to abuse for virtually her entire short and tortured life.

She suffered injuries including a fracture to the skull, ribs and legs, an underlying brain injury, and lacerations to the liver and pancreas.

Crown prosecutor Dennis Kinsella said, on one occasion, the baby’s mother witnessed Humphreys slap the infant, telling her to “cut that f---ing shit out,” after the newborn stirred during a feed.

About two weeks before Paige’s death, he said the child’s grandmother noticed the little girl’s head was swollen and bruised – and she seemed to be “sleeping all the time”.

“She also recalled there was a dispute between her daughter and [Humphreys], with him accusing [the baby’s mum] of loving [Paige] more than him; and that he wished he’d never had her …” he said.

The court heard Humphreys did not intend to kill Paige, or cause her grievous bodily harm, but his abuse was systemic and reckless.

The baby’s mother read out an emotional victim impact statement, detailing the “never-ending nightmare” they had been living in.

She said she still “fights everyday with the insecurity and guilt” that has scarred her for life since losing her daughter.

“Ever since Mr Humphreys…destroyed my trust, it makes it hard to let to let people in, and even more difficult trusting my husband-to-be,’ she said.

“I have placed walls around [me] just to make sure this never, ever happens again.”

Humphrey’s defence counsel said his own childhood had been marred by violence and that he was controlled by his drug use.

They also said baby Paige was born into a hostile environment amid financial and other pressures.

Labelling the abuse as “gratuitous” and “grotesque,” Justice Boddice decided against imposing a 10-year term, instead handing down a nine-year term and declaring the crime a “serious violence offence”