NT DPP considering appealing convicted baby basher’s suspended sentence in Alice Springs
A dad has given his thoughts over a sentence given to a man who bashed his baby – which could be getting appealed. Read the latest.
A dad has given his critique of the Territory's justice system after the man who bashed his baby girl – fracturing her skull – was ordered to return to Alice Springs to serve his suspended sentence – which may now be appealed by the NT Department of Public Prosecutions.
A Department spokesman confirmed it was “presently giving consideration to an appeal” of the suspended sentence of an 18-year-old man – who cannot be named – handed down in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The man was sentenced for his role in a horrific home invasion in Alice Springs in December 2024, where he fractured eight-week-old baby Antonia’s skull when he hit her with a fridge handle.
The man struck mum Nicole Siguenza – who was holding Antonia in her arms – in the face, with the blow travelling down and striking Antonia.
The blow fractured the tiny infant’s skull, and she had to be flown to Adelaide Women and Children’s Hospital for treatment, after she suffered seizures as a result of the attack.
On Tuesday, at the man’s sentencing, the court heard how little Antonia was taking anti-epilepsy medication to this day.
Marlon Siguenza, Antonia’s dad, told this masthead he needed time to process the latest developments, dryly telling this masthead: “justice, if you can call it that, has been served”.
When sentencing the man, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill described the man’s prospects of rehabilitation as “good” and noted how he’d said in a letter he was “going to change your life to show Ms Siguenza you are sorry”.
The man, who was 17-years-old at the time of the attack, broke into the Siguenza’s Larapinta home in December 2024 alongside a then-16-year-old teen.
The second teen, now 17, was sentenced to two years in prison with a non parole period of one year for his role in the horrific home invasion in August this year, while the man got the same sentence – albeit wholly suspended, to be served at a residential rehab facility in Alice Springs.
Both teens pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, theft, and unlawfully causing serious harm in August this year.
The maximum penalty for the aggravated robbery was life in prison, Justice Brownhill told the court on Tuesday when sentencing the man.
The man will complete 12 hours of work on a “project” every week, Justice Brownhill told the court when sentencing him on Tuesday, and at the completion of his suspended sentence, would be forced to leave Alice Springs.
While on the suspended sentence, the man is subject to 12 conditions, one of which bans him from consuming alcohol, and another which has him wearing electronic monitoring.
The man was ordered to be released on Tuesday, after he’d spent just over 10 months behind bars for the home invasion.
He was arrested hours after police attended the Bokhara St home in December last year.
NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby, speaking at a press conference in Darwin Thursday morning, said it was “appropriate” for the DPP to review the sentence.
“There’s a process that they go through to make that happen and it is a decision that lies with the Director of Prosecutions,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot of reform in the parliament, we also now have our reducing crime strategy.
“I think when it comes to sentencing, we’re exploring all of those avenues because at the end of the day we need to meet community expectations and from a wider perspective, ensuring that the community do feel safe and that they are dealt with appropriately is something that we will continue to explore.”
