Diquan Fisher sentenced to nine years for baby manslaughter

A teenager who killed his partner’s baby told an undercover cop he ‘just snapped’ when the little girl wouldn’t stop crying.

A teenager who killed his partner’s baby told an undercover cop he “lost his s**t … and just snapped” at the girl’s crying.

Diquan Erwin Lloyd Fisher, then 18, was sentenced to nine years jail for the manslaughter (domestic violence) of 11-month old Kaysharn Purcell in Corinda in February 2020.

Fisher was initially charged with murder but later pleaded guilty to manslaughter, his sentencing in Brisbane’s Supreme Court heard on Friday.

Diquan Erwin Lloyd Fisher was sentenced to nine years.

The little girl was found unresponsive at home after being shaken by Fisher while the mother was at the shops.

Kaysharn died several days later in hospital

Fisher, who had a very minor criminal history, initially maintained that Kaysharn had begun coughing and choking and he began administering CPR.

It was only when an undercover police officer was placed in Fisher’s cell at the Brisbane City Watchhouse that he eventually came clean.

“I lost my s**t and grabbed her … I just grabbed her then I just shook her … that’s what I done, I just shook her … I just snapped … she was at the end of the couch,” Fisher said to the cop.

He then cried before saying, “I just grabbed her, and I shook her and told her to be

quiet”, the court heard.

Afterwards he “freaked out” when Kaysharn went “limp and blue”.

“You told the law enforcement participant that, normally when the baby cried, you would ‘just walk away’, but, this time, you did not,” Justice Martin Burns said.

“You … said that you acted in this way because of the stress you were under.”

The post-mortem revealed Kaysharn sustained a combination of significant head, spinal cord and intraocular injuries by “vigorous shaking of an unsupported infant head”, the court heard.

Diquan Erwin Lloyd Fisher

Fisher entered an early plea of guilty and was “genuinely contrite”.

“Once you realised the gravity of what you had done, you tried to assist the baby as well as

the resuscitation efforts which ensued as much as you could, although you persisted

in a false account to cover up your offending,” Justice Burns said.

The court heard Fisher had a highly prejudicial childhood where he was exposed to severe domestic violence leaving him “desensitised to the use of violence”.

A psychological report revealed Fisher, a heavy drug user from a young age, suffered a range of disorders.

Justice Burns said the manslaughter charge meant Fisher did not intend to cause Kaysharn’s death nor did he have reckless indifference to human life.

“Nonetheless, you deliberately subjected the baby to forces of such severity that they

caused the fatal injuries,” he said.

“She was in your care, completely defenceless and, just as completely, vulnerable.

“By all accounts, the baby was a happy, functioning child up until the evening of 1

February 2020.”

Justice Burns ordered Fisher be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence which, when taking into account time served, would be in about two years.