'Rot in jail': Family demands justice for boy's brutal death

Aunt of little boy killed by his father fights for justice for the Sunshine Coast toddler.

SEEKING JUSTICE: Corby Akehurst's aunt, Tanya (third from left) and supporters outside Brisbane Supreme Court. They'd travelled down for the sentence of Corby's dad, Shane Purssell Akehurst, who pleaded guilty to Corby's manslaughter and torture. Picture: Geoff Egan

"GIVE him life."

That's the advice of Corby Akehurst's aunt, Tanya, to the Supreme Court justice tasked with sentencing Corby's killer, his own father, Shane Purssell Akehurst, next week.

Tanya and six other supporters travelled from north of Rockhampton to Brisbane on Monday to show support for her innocent nephew killed by his own dad.

She wanted justice for a young life taken far too soon.

"That was hard, it was hard, everybody was in tears," she said after sitting through sentencing submissions from the prosecution and Akehurst's defence lawyers.

"It just made me feel sick."

The crime split her family.

Shane Purssell Akehurst was due to be sentenced next week after pleading guilty to Corby's manslaughter and torture in Brisbane Supreme Court.

Corby had been horrifically tortured for months before he was killed.

Tanya said she was still disappointed the original murder charge had been downgraded to manslaughter, but she was hopeful Akehurst would receive a lengthy prison term for his crimes.

Tanya doesn't speak with her sister, Corby's mum, anymore, despite their families having been close before Corby's birth when they lived on the Gold Coast.

"We're just down here to try and get justice for Corby," Tanya said.

"I don't believe he (Akehurst) should be out in four years.

"I don't understand how they get to do all that (torture, manslaughter, and still get parole)."

She said it'd been hard in the beginning, losing contact with her parents, after the crime which rocked their family.

"It was pretty traumatic (when Corby was killed)," Tanya said.

Tanya said it was hard not to feel some guilt over Corby's death.

"He was pretty good (when she saw him)," she remembered.

"I thought he was just a very sooky baby. (After he died) I thought why didn't I notice it?

"But it's your sister's (child), you don't look for that when it's your nephew.

"I don't class them as family anymore."

So what does justice mean for them?

"He needs life, but we all know that won't happen in this justice system," she said.

"A life for a life.

"Obviously if you've tortured a child for that long you knew what you were doing."

Corby's mother was never charged in relation to her son's death.

Tanya said she would make the trip again next week to see justice served.

"We can't come this far now and not finish," she said.