Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au

Aaron Bunch
Dad who killed toddler son to learn fate

A Queensland man who tortured his son before fatally throwing his small body against a timber bedhead is expected to be sentenced in the Supreme Court.

April 11, 2019

An angry father convicted of killing his young son by slamming him against a bedhead is expected to learn his fate in a Queensland court.

Shane Purssell Akehurst, 37, threw toddler Corby Mitchell’s tiny body against the wooden frame of a bed in March 2015.

The 21-month-old had been alone with his father at their isolated rural property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland while the rest of the family were shopping.

The impact on the boy’s head was so forceful it caused whiplash and his eyes to bleed internally.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics and doctors, Corby was declared brain dead two days later and his life support system was switched off.

Akehurst, a FIFO worker and father of three, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Brisbane Supreme Court in January.

He also admitted a torture charge stemming from a series of assaults on his boy from November 2014.

An autopsy found Corby had 81 separate injuries.

They included crushed ribs that were weeks old, a missing fingernail and extensive facial injuries.

Akehurst told investigators he felt Corby’s ribs “pop” after he gave him “a really good squeeze”.

The boy’s penis and scrotum were also bruised and the skin broken, which was likely to have been caused by forceful pinching, the court heard during sentencing submissions.

Akehurst told police he had anger issues that sometimes caused him to lose control.

He also admitted, on multiple occasions, punching Corby’s head when boy woke and called out to his mother during the night.

Defence lawyer Robert East said Akehurst’s relationship with the child had suffered due to his heavy work roster, which kept him away from his family for three weeks in every four.

Akehurst is due to be sentenced in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday.

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