A Perth father with a history of domestic violence offences has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for killing his newborn baby daughter by violently shaking her.
Key points:
- Juan Daniel Visagie inflicted a fatal brain injury on his baby daughter
- Baby Aleaha died three months later in hospital
- Visagie will have to spend at least nine years in jail
Juan Daniel Visagie, 28, denied doing anything to his young daughter, but in July this year, after a jury trial, he was found guilty of her manslaughter.
The Supreme Court was told Visagie was looking after the 28-day-old girl, Aleaha, at the family's Gosnells home in September 2020, when she suffered a traumatic brain injury.
She died three months later in hospital.
Visagie said he had fallen asleep with the child on his chest, when he awoke to her screaming, and he claimed she must have fallen from the couch and hit her head on the floor.
But experts testified the child's injuries could not have been caused by a fall from the couch and that they were consistent with her suffering some kind of blunt force trauma, most likely her being vigorously shaken.
At his sentencing hearing, Visagie's lawyer Rebekah Sleeth described what her client did as "a moment of madness", saying he had acknowledged to the police he had anger management problems.
The court was told Visagie has a record of domestic violence offences, including convictions for repeatedly punching a former teenage partner, whom he also burned with a cigarette.
He also has a conviction for grabbing another ex-partner by the throat and pushing her into a car.
The court was told that at the time the baby was injured, the family was being monitored by the authorities because of concerns Visagie may be violent towards the child's mother, Maddison Sammut, before, during and after her pregnancy.
Justice Bruno Fiannaca said Visagie's crime "amounted to a gross failure of his responsibilities" to Aleaha as her father.
'Appalling behaviour'
The judge accepted that Visagie had acted "out of frustration and anger" telling him "you lost control of your emotions for a short while because she would not settle".
However, Justice Fiannaca described Visagie's actions as "appalling behaviour directed at a helpless little baby".
“It should have been obvious to you that such shaking could cause significant injuries and even death,” Justice Fiannaca said.
Visagie's lies about what happened and his attempt to get his partner to try to cover for him were described by Justice Fiannaca as an aggravating factor.
The court heard Visagie had told his partner the child might be taken away from them if it was revealed she had been sleeping on the couch with him.
Justice Fiannaca described that comment as "manipulative".
He told the 28-year-old, who appeared in court via video link from Hakea Prison, that trying to get his partner to lie for him was "an act of self-preservation involving a degree of cowardice".
The court heard religion is important to Visagie, and one day he hopes to be a pastor in his church.
He will have to spend at least nine years in jail before he is eligible for parole.