Khyesha suffered internal injuries, bruises to her face, cuts to her ear and lip, and a stomach injury. Photo / Supplied
Khyesha suffered internal injuries, bruises to her face, cuts to her ear and lip, and a stomach injury. Photo / Supplied
Some readers may find this content distressing
A Brisbane father whose young daughter died after prolonged physical and sexual abuse has had his sentencing unexpectedly adjourned to investigate whether he suffered a "psychological abnormality".
Matthew Lee Williamson had pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the manslaughter of 3-year-old Kyhesha-Lee Joughin but denied fatally harming the child.
After hearing two days of evidence, Justice Roslyn Atkinson was anticipated to hand down her findings on Thursday as to what role Williamson played in Kyhesha's painful death and his appropriate punishment.
But Williamson's case was adjourned until March 16 after his defence barrister Michael Copley requested a report into whether a "psychological abnormality" contributed to his conduct towards Kyhesha.
Williamson testified he didn't take his daughter to a doctor despite her vomiting green for days, having obvious bruising on her face and leaving blood in her nappies.
The court heard Kyhesha's infection from an internal injury was so painful she would not have been able to eat, drink or move in the 12 hours before her death.
"I was afraid I'd lose her to welfare ... because of the state she was in," Williamson said.
Williamson conceded he also ignored proof his daughter was being sexually abused when she showed she was oozing blood from her genitals and told him she "didn't want any fingers up her bum anymore".
"I didn't think anything of it at the time," he said.
But prosecutor Phil McCarthy suggested that never happened and Williamson made up the incident to hide his sexual abuse.
"You concocted that story because Kyhesha died and you knew someone would examine her," McCarthy said.
"That's not true," Williamson replied.
Kyhesha-Lee, with her dad Matthew Williamson. Photo / Supplied
At the time of her death Kyhesha was living with Williamson and Christopher Kent, who the court heard engaged in "unorthodox sexual conduct" together.
Kent, who previously spent 19 months in jail before pleading guilty to manslaughter and receiving a two-year suspended sentence, told the court on Wednesday he witnessed Williamson regularly abusing the girl.
"It was like two adults fighting," Kent said.
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.
Williamson admitted using rope to keep Kyhesha locked away but claimed it was to stop her from getting out at night.
He also 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.
Both men blame each other for the violent and sexual assaults on the child.
Williamson wept in the dock as photos of Kyhesha were shown to detail the extensive bruising she had when she died.
But the court heard when Williamson found her lifeless body his first action was to ask Kent to remove a bong from the house before calling triple-zero.
Outside court, Kyhesha's grandfather Doug Joughin said the delay was a "curveball".
"We just want closure so we can just carry on," he said.
