Kilsyth dad Cameron Staples’s sick act before fatally shaking son

A Melbourne father who admitted violently shaking his infant son and repeatedly lying about what happened did one shocking thing before the crime.

Cameron Staples arrives at the Victorian Supreme Court for sentencing for the killing of his four-month-old son Flynn after he got drunk and shook him. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Crosling

Before a Melbourne dad violently shook his infant son he left the four-month-old alone to buy booze.

Kilsyth man Cameron Staples was jailed for up to nine years in the Victorian Supreme Court after he admitted to one count of child homicide earlier this month.

“You will have to live with the death of Flynn and the consequence to the other victims for the rest of your life,” Justice Paul Coghlan said on Thursday.

Staples initially claimed baby Flynn fell off a changing table while he was putting a nappy in the bin but later claimed he was “too rough” during a nappy change.

Staples initially claimed baby Flynn fell off a changing table. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Crosling

But he later revealed to the baby’s mother Robyn Hall on a recorded phone call those explanations were lies.

The former apprentice left his son alone and went around the corner to buy pre-mixed alcohol from the nearby shops and drank up to seven cans of bourbon and coke before the crime.

“You knowingly told deliberate lies about what happened to Flynn,” the judge said.

Staples claimed he did not recall shaking the infant but admitted he may have hit the boy’s head on the floor while intoxicated.

Staples had been diagnosed with a personality disorder, anxiety and depression and used alcohol as a coping mechanism.

The killer has since written a letter of apology to his former partner and her family.

The infant’s death left Ms Hall and her parents devastated.

Cameron Staples drank up to seven cans of bourbon and coke before shaking his baby son. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Crosling

“I cannot fathom how I’m supposed to live without him,” Ms Hall previously said in a statement to the court.

“I still don’t understand how he could have hurt our baby.”

Flynn’s grandparents also struggled to come to terms with the loss of their grandchild and how it impacted their daughter.

“The sight of his coffin, which was the length of my arm, is etched forever in my memory,” Mr Hall said at the time through tears.

Their lives will never be the same again, the judge said.

Staples will be eligible for parole after serving seven years, and he has spent 490 days behind bars.