Vile father of Kyhesha-Lee, 3, is sentenced to NINE years for her manslaughter - after court heard shocking details of how she was raped, beaten and tortured in his care

  •  Matthew Lee Williamson sentenced to nine years jail over daughter's death
  •  Kyhesha-Lee Joughin died from internal injuries after she was sexually assaulted
  •  The three-year-old was found dead in the Petrie flat where she lived with him
  •  His housemate Christopher Kent got sentence to two years over her death

The father of Brisbane toddler Kyhesha-Lee Joughin who died after days of horrific sexual abuse has been sentenced to nine years over her death.

Matthew Lee Williamson, 32, watched his three-year-old daughter die slowly and painfully from internal injuries after refusing to take her to see a doctor after noticing her vomit was green. 

Justice Roslyn Atkinson on Thursday sentenced Williamson to nine years' jail and declared the crime a serious violent offence, meaning he will need to serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence before he can be eligible for parole. 

 Williamson pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis he failed to seek medical attention for the toddler, but denied causing her fatal injury.

However, Justice Atkinson rejected that denial and said she was satisfied Williamson delivered a punch to his daughter's abdomen some time on March 28, 2013 that perforated her bowel.

The father of Brisbane toddler Kyhesha-Lee Joughin who died after days of horrific sexual abuse has been sentenced to nine years over her death

The father of Brisbane toddler Kyhesha-Lee Joughin who died after days of horrific sexual abuse has been sentenced to nine years over her death

Matthew Lee Williamson watched his three-year-old daughter die slowly and painfully from internal injuries

Matthew Lee Williamson watched his three-year-old daughter die slowly and painfully from internal injuries

The father will now spend nine years behind bars following a trial

The father will now spend nine years behind bars following a trial

He and his flatmate Christopher Kent, who has already been sentenced for the toddler's manslaughter, then spent three days taking drugs and refusing to seek medical treatment for Kyhesha as her condition deteriorated, Justice Atkinson said.

'Her death was not inevitable,' Justice Atkinson told the court.

'Her physical injuries could have been treated.'

Justice Atkinson said Kyhesha had to live in a 'depraved and disgusting environment' in the unit her father shared with Kent.

She was regularly locked in her bedroom by a rope which Williamson would tie to her door and his bed, sometimes for 17 hours a day.

'Your treatment of your daughter was occasionally loving but mostly cruel and callous,' Justice Atkinson said.

'You should have put her welfare above all else.' 

The three-year-old died on the Easter weekend of 2013, inside the two-bedroom Petrie flat where she lived with her father and his housemate Kent.

The injuries were treatable, according to medical experts - who said if she was taken to the medical centre located just 500m from her house she would have lived

The injuries were treatable, according to medical experts - who said if she was taken to the medical centre located just 500m from her house she would have lived

Christopher Ken, pictured, was sentenced to two years wholly suspended following her death

Christopher Ken, pictured, was sentenced to two years wholly suspended following her death

The court heard Kyhesha-Lee would have been in 'serious pain for days before her death'.

Williamson didn't want to 'lose custody of her' so never took her to see a doctor - even though she had green vomit, was bleeding in her nappy and was dehydrated and lethargic.

The injuries were treatable, according to medical experts - who said if she was taken to the medical centre located just 500m from her house she would have lived.

Kent, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence for his role in the young girl's death - and testified against Williamson during the hearing.

Kent told the Court the toddler's father would often hit her - and told him to 'hide the bong' kept at the home before he would call for help after she had died.

'I had the chance to take her from him and I didn't because she loved him so much,' Ms Joughlin wrote

'I had the chance to take her from him and I didn't because she loved him so much,' Ms Joughlin wrote

Daily Mail Australia earlier revealed the moment Williamson called triple-0 after he found his daughter dead

Daily Mail Australia earlier revealed the moment Williamson called triple-0 after he found his daughter dead

'It was like two adults fighting,' Kent said of the abuse.

He said Williamson, who generally slept through the day, would lock his daughter in her bedroom for hours on end and would become enraged when she then ended up throwing her faeces inside the room. 

Daily Mail Australia earlier revealed the moment Williamson called triple-0 after he found his daughter dead.

'My daughter's not breathing... I fell asleep on the couch,' he said.

'She's stiff it's like rigor mortis.'

'I can't pry her mouth open.. can't move her arms.'

During the trial - which was delayed first for a psychology report on Williamson and then after floodwaters swept through Brisbane - Williamson admitted to locking Kyhesha in her room using rope.

But he denied a raft of abuse allegations, including using a large sex toy on Kyhesha, punching her in the stomach, posing naked with her and pulling on her ear until it bled.

Williamson admitted to locking Kyhesha in her room using rope

Williamson admitted to locking Kyhesha in her room using rope

Williamson had custody of Kyhesha since splitting with her mother Danielle Joughin in 2010. The pair lived with his father until October 2012 when they moved into the Petrie apartment where she died.

The toddler's hair had been shaved shortly before her death to hide patches where it had been pulled out, according to court documents. 

The three-year-old went to childcare on March 21 and looked healthy - but by March 29 she had a swollen and bruised face, court documents reveal.

During her ex-partner's trial Kyhesha-Lee's distraught mother Danielle Joughin said the little girl 'went through hell' and she 'blames herself'.

During her ex-partner's trial Kyhesha-Lee's distraught mother Danielle Joughin said the little girl 'went through hell' and she 'blames herself'

During her ex-partner's trial Kyhesha-Lee's distraught mother Danielle Joughin said the little girl 'went through hell' and she 'blames herself'

'I had the chance to take her from him and I didn't because she loved him so much,' Ms Joughlin wrote on Facebook just months after Kyhesha-Lee's death.

In another post, the mother-of-four admitted she had 'made mistakes' in regards to the toddler and was 'not perfect'.

'Knowing the s*** that was going on in that house while my daughter was there, may as well of thrown her in a room full of paedophiles,' she wrote. 

Williamson's family as well as Kyhesha's grandparents and mother were in the gallery for the sentencing.

Many wept as the details of her death were read out by Justice Atkinson.

Kyhesha-Lee's head had been shaved to disguise chunks which had been pulled out shortly

Kyhesha-Lee's head had been shaved to disguise chunks which had been pulled out shortly

 

 

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.