Man’s ‘unspeakable’ torture of 3 kids

WARNING: Confronting details

A man brutally tortured his three children by frequently beating them with weapons, putting salt into their eyes and their hands into boiling water during a “horrific” and protracted ordeal, a court has been told.

All three children were no older than 10 at the time the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, subjected them to the abuse in Brisbane’s south over four months.

Details of the man’s torture of the children were detailed during his sentencing at Brisbane District Court on Thursday.

A small group of family and supporters joined him in court as the man frequently put his head in his hands and fidgeted throughout proceedings.

The court was told the abuse was “protracted” – often involving the use of weapons, bars and even a frying pan during the beatings, which lasted four months between late September 2022 and January 2023.

On other occasions, salt was put into their eyes and their hands were plunged into boiling water.

The man took the children – two boys and a girl – from his grandparents, who were caring for them, in July 2022 and refused to return them.

The girl is not the man’s biological daughter but the court was told the man considered her to be his child.

Child Safety investigated the man’s taking the children, but took no further action as there were no indications the children were being harmed at the time.

But further concerning information was passed on to authorities in the following months, leading to police being advised.

The abuse was only uncovered after police attended the property after the man phoned triple-0 and said his five-year-old son was not breathing.

The child was taken to hospital in a coma.

While riding in the ambulance, the man lied to paramedics and said there were no other children at the property.

The older boy and the girl were later found by police locked in the home’s garage – sleeping on a broken bed – at 1.30am two days later.

“They were covered in bruises and unable to walk properly,” District Court Judge Jennifer Rosengren said.

The man had “deliberately” directed his sisters to collect the children, to avoid detection of the injuries he had inflicted, Judge Rosengren said.

Crown prosecutor Amy Stannard said the girl had a fractured knee when she was taken to hospital.

All children were malnourished – one of the boys refusing to let nurses take away unfinished food while he was recovering in hospital.

The court was told the man had pleaded guilty to three counts of torture and one count each of choking and grievous bodily harm at an earlier date.

Judge Rosengren said the particulars of the torture against the three children involved the man “intentionally inflicting pain and suffering” by hitting or smacking them with his hand or a metal rod, throwing them against the wall and floor, putting salt in their eyes, forcing them to sleep on a broken bed in the garage and not providing the children with adequate food.

The choking charge involved the man placing his legs on his oldest child’s head and neck.

Judge Rosengren said she struggled to look at photos of the children’s injuries – which have been sealed by the court.

“What you have inflicted on these young children is bordering on unspeakable,” she said.

“Each of the three children are at high risk of requiring lifelong access to psychological counselling and support.

“None of them attended school for the six or so months while they were under your care.”

The man received a head sentence of 14 years jail, with Judge Rosengren noting he had limited insight into his offending or a capacity to discuss the violence.

“You shockingly used your position of trust and power over these defenceless, dependent young children whom you had removed from the protective influence of their grandparents,” Judge Rosengren said.

“They had nowhere to turn for protection.”

The man was born in the Congo but his family fled to a refugee camp in Tanzania when he was a boy, until they migrated to Australia.

The court was told the man did not hold a visa and risked deportation.

A psychologist said the man had spoken about problematic drinking and speculated his offending may be explained by “chronic problems managing anger and emotional disregulation”.