A little boy who was let down by those supposed to care for and protect him. Who was even let down by those meant to be his fail safe, those who should have stepped in when things went badly wrong.

This is the story of a little boy who knew the words “shut up” and “c--t” – because those were the words shouted at him when he cried.

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A little boy who vomited green bile, whose nappies were filled with blood from the enormous trauma to his perianal region. Who had methamphetamine in his system, who was left with a violent man with a drug habit.

Mason Jet Lee was born on August 16, 2014, to Anne Maree Lee, at the Caboolture Hospital.

When he was a year old, his mother began a relationship with William O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan had an extensive criminal history and a nasty drug habit. When he came to visit Lee’s Caboolture home, the children would run to their rooms and hide.

As an 18-year-old, he’d threatened police with a knife and kicked one in the face.

Lee did little to look after her son. She would tell doctors that O’Sullivan changed his nappies. Mason was “too active” for her, the mother-of-five would explain.

He was malnourished and generally lived in an unclean home with little supervision. Court hearings were told that in the days before his death, when Mason was incredibly ill, he was left at home alone with a five-year-old boy while O’Sullivan and his mother had sex at another house.

“Maggots in the microwave, maggots in the fridge, faeces on the lounges, cockroaches running around,” a person close to the family said of places Lee had lived.

The relationship between O’Sullivan and Lee was ­tumultuous and the court heard that Lee had asked for help to leave him, saying he was violent and had threatened to kill her. They lived in separate homes, but Mason was often with O’Sullivan at his house about 1km away.

O’Sullivan was jealous and possessive and accused her often of being unfaithful.

“If she went to the park, she’d be accused of infidelity,” the court heard.

He had threatened her with a baseball bat. He had threatened to shoot her.

But on the same day Lee met with a Mission Australia representative to ask for help, she invited O’Sullivan over for lunch. After the meeting was over, she contacted him and asked him to pick her up and drive her home.

Prosecutor Michael Byrne, at Lee’s sentencing hearing yesterday, said that domestic violence relationships were often “complex”.

The dangerous home life of this neglected child came to the attention of authorities in January of 2016. Mason was taken to the Morayfield Medical Centre for a bruise to his head and a sore leg.

The doctor recommended he be taken to the local emergency room. He wasn’t.

On February 12, Lee called a home doctor service. He had a fever and his leg was now swollen. Specialists diagnosed leg cellulitis – a massive infection – as well as an untreated fracture of his leg. And worse, they found severe perianal fissures – or tears. He had mouth ulcers, he was anaemic.

Mason would spend 25 days in hospital where he ­received surgery and blood transfusions.

The Department of Child Safety was alerted, but when it was time for Mason to go home, he was sent back into the care of Lee and O’Sullivan.

Both department staff and people from Mission Australia would attempt to check on Mason between his release from hospital and his death in June. Mission Australia staff tried several times, visiting the house and leaving notes, but Lee dodged them.

Mission Australia told the department and, three days before Mason died, a staffer visited Lee’s home. Mason, of course, was not there. Nobody visited O’Sullivan’s house, where Mason was gravely ill.

“If the department had done its job properly, none of this would have happened,” Lee, who did nothing to help her dying son, would later tell police.

On June 6, O’Sullivan, who often complained of having to care for a crying child, punched the little boy in the stomach hard enough to rupture his lower intestine.

For the next five days, the little boy would cry and vomit, becoming more and more listless. It wasn’t the only injury that would be inflicted on him during this time. A pathologist would find a broken coccyx – likely from being kicked. Damage to his scalp was likely from having his hair pulled.

Strangers who saw him ­noticed how ill he looked. A visitor to the house demanded he be taken to hospital.

On June 7, O’Sullivan and Lee took Mason to a shopping centre where a police officer noticed how sick he looked.

On June 9, Lee was at O’Sullivan’s home helping to clean. She picked Mason up from O’Sullivan’s bed, but he told her to put him down. When a visitor to the house saw him the same day, she saw him looking pale. He wasn’t moving and he had vomit on his face and in his hair.

It was that same day that Mason was left home alone.

Lee had been texting O’Sullivan persistently, asking him to come over and have sex with her. He did.

She had sent him texts throughout the week saying she loved him, she missed him. Police found the messages after Lee claimed she hadn’t known about Mason’s dire health, that she hadn’t been in contact with O’Sullivan because he had taken her phone.

When paramedics were finally called just after midnight on the morning of June 11 – by another visitor to the house – Mason was already dead.

Beaten, neglected, with injuries so terrible they would shock even hardened professionals – this was the short life of Mason Lee.

Lee was yesterday sentenced to nine years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter and cruelty to a child. She will be eligible for parole in five months.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said yesterday she was investigating whether the sentence can be appealed.

“I don’t think justice has been served,” a person close to the family said. “(O’Sullivan) used force in many, many ­different intimidating ways against a child who had no hope of ever fighting back.

“He picked on the most vulnerable … And the mother was just as guilty.

“There’s no justice.

“The consequences of (Lee’s) decision-making will affect the rest of the children for their rest of their lives.”