Mason Lee’s mother walks free from jail after less than five years

Killer mum Annemarree Lee has walked free from jail after serving less than five years, just one month before what would have been Mason’s seventh birthday, and less than two months after assaulted another prisoner.

Killer mum Annemarree Lee has walked free from prison just one month before what would have been her little boy Mason’s seventh birthday.

It means Lee has served less than five years in prison for the tragic death of her 22-month-old son who died a slow and agonising death after his stepfather punched him in the stomach.

Lee refused to seek help for her little boy whose organs slowly shut down as he died an excruciating death over several days in June 2016.

In February 2019, Lee was sentenced to nine years in prison for child cruelty and manslaughter and became eligible for parole just five months later because she had already served about two and a half years in prison awaiting sentence.

Lee’s “lenient” sentence sparked widespread community outrage and then-Attorney-General Y’Vette D’Ath appealed the sentence on the grounds it was manifestly inadequate but the Court of Appeal dismissed the application.

Despite evidence she assaulted another prisoner just last month on June 4, the parole board granted Lee’s parole application three weeks later on June 25 after determining her risk of reoffending and risk to the community was at an “acceptable level”.

Mason Lee.

Annemarree Lee.

Lee was released from jail last Monday and in a report handed down on Tuesday, the board noted it had taken into account her prejudicial upbringing and the violent relationship she had with O’Sullivan.

“She made some ineffectual attempts to protect her young (child) from O’Sullivan’s violence but she always submitted to his will in the end,” the board wrote.

“He continually told her that she was a failure as a mother and that she was unable to care for her son, and she was too scared and timid to stand up to him.”

A psychiatrist gave evidence that Lee’s frame of mind meant that her “emotional field of vision narrowed to the point that she did not recognise the threats to Mason’s wellbeing and did not register in the last week that he was gravely ill”.

Lee’s release came just one month after she assaulted another prisoner in custody in early June.

She agreed to participate in mediation after the attack and no formal complaint was made to police.

The board took into account Lee’s “significant mental health challenges” and noted her behaviour in custody had improved over time.

The board found that due to the nature of her crimes, Lee had often been targeted by other inmates which made her time in custody more difficult.

The board took into account comments from the Court of Appeal which found Lee’s culpability for her son’s death needed to be looked at in the context of her own prejudicial upbringing.

“A mother’s grievous neglect of her child leading to the child’s death is an affront to community values but an understanding of the reasons for the neglect lessens the sense of indignation that is felt,” the appeal judges wrote.

“The respondent’s personal circumstances, as O’Sullivan’s victim in an oppressive relationship and as the victim of her own upbringing, operate heavily in mitigation of her moral culpability for Mason’s death.”

The appeal judges found Lee had displayed “true remorse”: “ … a remorse which is really the permanent burden she will bear because she caused her son’s death”.

Lee was sentenced on the basis that she failed to get medical attention for Mason, whose body slowly shut down in the days after O’Sullivan delivered the fatal blow at his Caboolture home.

The parole board note the results of that blow were “catastrophic” and ruptured the boy’s intestine.

The consequences would not have been fatal with medical intervention but no help was sought for the little boy.

“The medical signs showed that Mason lay untreated for four or five days after being punched,” the parole board wrote.

“He suffered until he died. Within hours of being hit he was vomiting. He became dehydrated. He was in pain. The peritonitis caused a fever.

“It should have been obvious to any adult observer that Mason was in urgent need of medical attention.

“After a time, Mason descended into a state of shock. His organs began to fail and he lost consciousness and, finally, he died.”

Mason’s death uncovered the systemic failures of Child Safety staff who a coroner later found had failed the boy in “nearly every way possible.

The Queensland Public Service Commission also undertook a review into the tragedy and found the disciplinary action taken against Child Safety employees was “manifestly inadequate”.

Chief executive Robert Setter said while no one person was responsible for his death, the collective impact of individual actions had dire consequences for the little boy.

“The discipline taken against those employees was in no way proportionate to the seriousness and extent of their failings, which when combined completely failed Mason,” Mr Setter said.

“It is the opinion of the Commission review that the discipline imposed at the time was severely inadequate.

Lee was released on parole on a number of conditions including that she be subject to a curfew for the first three months and she comply with Child Protection Register requirements.

Lee will have to inform the chief executive of she begins an intimate relationship and advise if they have the care or guardianship of a child.

Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls said Mason may still be alive if not for the “serious failings of the Department of Child Safety in protecting a little boy”.

“The story of Mason Jett Lee’s all too short life is a tragedy,” Mr Nicholls said.

“The great shame is that no one other than his mother and O’Sullivan has been held accountable for his avoidable death.

“The decision of the Parole Board only serves to highlight the inadequacies of the system that so utterly abandoned a defenceless little boy.”