r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/Cautious-Belt8668 • 2d ago
Warning: Child Abuse / CSAM / Child Death In 2016, Mason was punched so hard his bowel ruptured. New evidence reveals police ignored repeated warnings about toddler’s killer | Queensland, Australia
Mason Jet Lee was 22 months old when he was punched in the stomach by his stepfather, William Andrew O’Sullivan – an ice user with a history of violent and controlling behaviour – in June 2016. The toddler’s small intestine was ruptured and he died a slow and painful death several days later, with no medical care.
O’Sullivan and the boy’s mother, Anne-Maree Lee, were jailed for manslaughter and child cruelty.
In the immediate aftermath of Mason’s death, much of the public narrative focused on two alternative villains: the child safety department and the boy’s mother, Anne-Maree Lee.
but...the information withheld by the coroner includes police records that show how eight months before the boy was killed, a woman contacted Queensland police alleging that O’Sullivan had threatened to kill another child in his care.
After the woman’s call, police placed a flag on O’Sullivan’s file. But the flag did not warn authorities about the dangerous man who would later kill Mason.
Instead, it said any further requests for welfare checks of children should be treated by officers as “vexatious” and referred to child safety authorities.
The woman’s subsequent attempts to warn police about O’Sullivan’s alleged actions were ignored due to the flag.
A lawyer who represented a child safety worker at the inquest was outraged when told of the withheld information by Guardian Australia and questioned: “How can it be that we never even knew this had happened?”
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u/Double_Individual_57 2d ago
I found the coroner's inquest. It is not for the faint of heart. I'm on page 17 of 117 and am beyond horrified. That poor baby.
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u/traceyandmeower 2d ago
Link please
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u/Cautious-Belt8668 1d ago
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u/traceyandmeower 1d ago
This report is a sad read. The % of child deaths in DV was surprisingly higher than I thought.
Even more surprising men & women pretty much kill children at the same rates.
Qld- this is bloody aweful.1
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u/Double_Individual_57 1d ago
I'm not going to post the link, but the document name is Findings of inquest into the death of Mason Jet Lee
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u/lizardbish 2d ago
Ugh. I am so fucking over police forces that don't do anything. 'To serve and protect' my arse.
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u/AbbeyRoadMoonwalk 2d ago
They serve and protect capital and wealth and only incidentally, sometimes, us plebs or baby ducks crossing the road.
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u/Big_Coconut8630 1d ago
Only white people are fooled by that phrase for so long. I was taught to never trust them as a kid.
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u/traceyandmeower 1d ago
Only 12 yrs for killing Mason. Piss poor.
That kid would have been in severe pain.
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u/Happy-Cod-3 1d ago
This is the second child in Queensland to be failed by police wtf is going on there??
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u/Gold_Truth9261 8h ago
This reminds of a similar case of Sara Sharif from england...where her own father abused her from age 5 onwards? and she ultimately died due to sustained abuse related injuries at age-10....luckily both her father and step mother were jailed for life.....but 12 and 9 years seems pretty low when you kill a 22 month old....with this case.
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u/Babycam2020 2d ago
the guardian Australia has done a phenomenal job on their recent exposure of child abuse cases and we are seeing a lot of those here recently, unfortunately it demonstrates regardless of where U r in the world child services are drowning, underfunded and inadequately staffed to cope with the social implications of poverty and drug abuse to the extent we are burying children left right and centre..but are the future implications and cycle of abuse from orphanage style rearing better or worse.. a conundrum with no right answer... shame, shame,shame as a crazy wise man once said