Sick BABYSITTER killed crying baby by violently shaking her till she turned 'limp and blue'
BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND: A twenty-year-old man is facing prison time over the death of an 11-month-old baby left in his care. Diquan Lloyd Erwin Fisher was 18 years old when the child's 17-year-old mother asked him to look after her sleeping baby girl in Brisbane's south in February 2020.
When the baby woke up and started crying after the mother had left, Fisher picked her up, shook her vigorously till she turned "limp and blue" and told her to be quiet, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard.
Fisher began "freaking out" when the child became unresponsive and the mother returned to the Corinda house. He initially told the mother that the baby had been coughing, had vomited and been choking. The baby girl was revived by paramedics at the scene but died at the Queensland Children's Hospital four days later, police said.
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Fisher later conceded that he shook her from "side to side" when up to 40 "scattered bruises" were found on the baby that were consistent with where he had gripped the child, crown prosecutor David Nardone said.
The mother wept at Fisher's conviction on Friday before leaving the courtroom in tears when details of the baby's death were revealed.
"Let me out. I need to get out," the mother said as she was led out by supporters.
“The discovery that I was pregnant completely changed my life. Her love gave me hope for the future. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done for her. She was always happy and giggling.. she would give me the cutest smiles and kisses," she said in her statement read to the court.
Fisher was exposed to domestic violence at a young age, leading to his "desensitisation", his defence barrister said. He began dabbling in drugs and alcohol to deal with anxiety and depression and "succumbed to ice", having a severe impact on his mental state. Fisher also had "impulsivity issues" and struggled to maintain his composure, his defence barrister said.
Fisher had shown a great deal of remorse and guilt for the "catastrophic consequences" of his behaviour and for what he had done to the family, his defence said. Fisher was initially arrested for murder but pleaded guilty Friday to the lighter charge of manslaughter. He is expected to be sentenced next week by Judge Martin Burns.