DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING
A Congolese refugee has been jailed for 14 years for brutally torturing three children over a period of four months in Brisbane and leaving them scarred for life.
The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced in Brisbane District Court on Thursday, and the court heard confronting details of the “protracted” abuse suffered by his victims, who were all under 10 years old
The court heard that between September 2022 and January 2023 the man put salt into the children’s eyes, forced their hands into boiling water, beat them with metal rods and a frying pan, threw them against the walls and floors, and choked the oldest child by putting his legs on their head and neck.
Judge Jennifer Rosengren said she struggled to look at photos of the children’s injuries and told the man in sentencing: “What you have inflicted on these young children is bordering on unspeakable.
“Each of the three children are at high risk of requiring lifelong access to psychological counselling and support.”
The torture took place after the man took the children, his two biological sons and a girl who was not his biological daughter but who was considered by him to be his child, from his grandparents two months earlier and refused to return them, News.com.au reported.
Child Safety took no action after investigating the children’s removal because they found no indication they were being harmed.
The abuse was discovered after the man called triple-zero for help because his five-year-old son was not breathing, but lied to paramedics as the child was taken to hospital in a coma, saying there were no other children at his home.
But at 1.30am two days later police found an older boy and a girl locked in the man’s garage and sleeping on a broken bed. Judge Rosengren noted they were “covered in bruises and unable to walk properly”.
The court heard that the man had attempted to avoid detection by asking his sisters to collect the children. The girl had a fractured knee, and all three children were malnourished, with one of the brothers refusing to let nurses take away unfinished food while being treated in hospital.
Judge Rosengren told the court the man had limited insight into his offending and had a limited capacity to discuss it.
