Matthew Lee Williamson pleads guilty to the manslaughter of his three-year-old daughter
MATTHEW Lee Williamson has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his three-year-old daughter Kyhesha-Lee Joughin.
MATTHEW Lee Williamson has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his three-year-old daughter.
Kyhesha-Lee Joughin died in 2013 at a unit in Petrie, in Brisbane’s north, after a bowel injury that became infected went untreated.
She also had bruising on her face, cuts on her ear and a crushed finger, a court heard in March.The Courier Mail reported the young girl suffered from “significant injuries” at least twice in her last two weeks of life.
Williamson will dispute that he caused the injuries that killed his daughter, his lawyer Peter Shields says.
According to the lawyer, Williamson only concedes guilt on the basis he should have called for medical attention. He denies he caused the injuries.
“At this stage it’s just a plea of guilty to the offence of manslaughter,” Mr Shields told reporters outside Brisbane Supreme Court.
“It’s a matter for her honour to consider at a contested sentence whether it’s on the basis he failed to provide the necessaries of life in obtaining medical treatment or whether he caused the injuries.”
Brisbane Magistrates court last year heard Kyhesha suffered deliberate and protracted physical and sexual assault in the week leading up to her death from an infected internal injury.
She suffered a stomach injury consistent with a blow from a fist or foot or an adult falling on her.
She also had bruising on her face, lacerations on her ear as if she had been pulled, an injury to her temple and cuts to her lip from possible blows.
A court heard last year Kyhesha-Lee was allegedly locked in her squalid bedroom, where she was forced to urinate and defecate.
Justice Roslyn Atkinson remanded Williamson in custody for sentencing on February 23.
Mr Shields said it would be a contested sentence hearing which he expected to last about three days.
In March another man who lived at the house, Christopher Arthur Neville Kent, 47, was given a two-year suspended jail sentence after serving 19 months behind bars, having pleading guilty to Kyhesha’s manslaughter.
—with AAP