Queensland cop in court charged with murdering his baby son

[Nergal]

 

A QUEENSLAND police officer killed his baby with a punch so hard his liver was “pulped” and other organs ruptured.

The first time Senior Constable Colin David Randall was left alone with his 10-week-old son, he lashed out in act of extreme violence due to frustration at not being able to relocate, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard on Tuesday.

The then 37-year-old was obsessed with moving to Hervey Bay, but had recently had a transfer request knocked back by police.

On the morning he killed his son, Randall’s wife had gone to the shops. Randall stayed at home and put the boy in a swing.

The court heard he leant down and punched the boy once.

It left the boy with severe internal injuries, from which he never recovered.

“The child went into cardiac arrest because of the trauma,” crown prosecutor Phil McCarthy said.

He was taken to hospital and for two-and-a-half hours unsuccessful attempts were made to resuscitate him.

Randall had for three and a half years maintained the injuries were caused by CPR he had incorrectly performed, despite being familiar the technique.


“It beggars belief in circumstances where he was a trained instructor (in CPR),” Mr McCarthy said.

He kept up the same lie for years and told his former wife, medical staff and investigators he had been vacuuming and left the boy in his swing. To keep up the ruse, he claimed the boy was limp and unresponsive when he found him.

But when he last week pleaded guilty to his son’s manslaughter, he confessed to hitting the boy.

“It’s just an horrendous attack on a 10-week-old baby,” Justice Peter Davis said.

Mr McCarthy told the court Randall should be given a sentence comparable to Heidi Strbak.

She was jailed for a minimum four years for killing her four-year-old son.

The sentence hearing continues.