Content warning: This post contains a graphic account of child abuse, which may be distressing for some readers.
Four years after three-year-old Kyhesha-Lee Joughin‘s horrific death, it’s been revealed the toddler should have been with her grandparents and mother the weekend she died.
The child was found “stiff” by her father Matthew Lee Williamson in the living room of their Petrie apartment, north of Brisbane, in March, 2013.
He is currently being sentenced for her manslaughter after failing to act, despite his daughter being gravely injured.
It’s now been revealed Kyesha-Lee should have been with her mother Danielle Joughin that Easter weekend, but her grandmother’s car broke down en route to collect her.
"We were actually going to have her that weekend, but our car broke down and we could not make it," Tanya Coyne wrote in a victim impact statement to the court, obtained by the Daily Mail.
"We thought it would be better anyway for Kyhesha-Lee to spend Easter with her father," she said.
Tanya Coyne and her husband Doug rearranged custody for the following weekend as she had not seen her mother in nine months.
Williamson denies ever hurting his daughter, who was found to have suffered internal bleeding, cuts and bruises, according to the ABC.
In the weeks before her death, he also noticed blood near her vagina but failed to report it because "didn’t think anything of it at the time”.
He accused his housemate, Christopher Kent, of causing at least some of the three-year-old's injuries. Kent received a suspended sentence for manslaughter for abusing her on a number of occasions.
"The final days of her life, horrific injuries and what happened to her and her suffering will always haunt our minds," Coyne said in her statement.
"The helpless mess we feel about not being there will haunt us for a very long time."
Coyne had been "looking forward" to spending time with her grandchild and had planned "to spoil" her, the statement said.
When she found out Kyhesha-Lee was dead, she felt "numbness, disbelief, confusion, shock, angry and helplessness" that she never got the chance.
Top Comments
I am just in disbelief that a father could treat his own daughter in such a disgusting manner. The horrible life this poor little girl had must have been soul crushing for her. How could her mother leave her for 9 months let alone a day living with two men who obviously had sexual misconduct it's just heartbreaking and disgraceful and now she is dead because her own father didn't give a shit about her whether she lived or died. The pain that poor little 3 year old girl must have felt with no-one helping her, she died as the two men slept. I can't stop thinking about her pain. I hope both of those men are locked up and that this doesn't happen again to someone else they come into contact with in the community. How could they even be out on bail! Our justice system has let Kyhesha and other children down. Previous offences, come on. lock them up!
I'm guessing its court ordered custody. Had she not delivered the baby I'm sure they'd have trumped up mens rights claims. But I don't understand how they didn't know and why was the baby there for 9 months? I can't even read all the things that happened to her because I feel like vomiting.