A remorseless killer who assaulted a vulnerable baby and then tried to blame the boy’s mother has been jailed for 13 years.
Benjamin Joseph Swann, 31, gritted his teeth and looked straight ahead as Victorian Supreme Court Justice James Gorton handed down his sentence on Thursday 13 November.
Swann pleaded guilty to child homicide, admitting he deliberately caused a blunt force trauma to baby Elijah’s head at a Werribee home while frustrated and angry.
He had gone into Elijah’s room to settle the crying infant about 4am on January 19, 2024, when the boy’s mother Elyce heard a loud bang.
Swann returned to the bedroom carrying Elijah and told Elyce to “take this f***ing baby” before he left to make up a bottle.
That’s when Elyce realised her son was making an unusual wheezing sound and appeared to be gasping for breath.
Swann told her to wait when she suggested they call an ambulance, but she ignored him after noticing her son was turning blue.
Elijah was taken to hospital by paramedics and doctors ultimately determined he had suffered a non-survivable brain injury due to a blunt force trauma to the head.
He was taken off life support and died in his mother’s arms in the early hours of January 20 at only 115 days old.
In the immediate aftermath and when he was arrested on February 8, Swann denied he had struck Elijah, pushed the little boy or dropped him.
He also deflected the blame to Elyce, claiming his girlfriend had been suffering from severe post-natal depression and was capable of doing something to her son.
Justice Gorton said Swann’s actions after Elijah’s death were callous and deliberate.
“Even as Elijah was fighting for his life, you were putting your own interests above his,” the judge said.
Justice Gorton accepted Elijah could not have been saved, even if Swann disclosed his offending sooner.
But Swann could not have known that so his decision to deflect blame should be considered aggravating to the overall crime, the judge said.
He also noted Swann has shown no remorse and his victim was a defenceless and vulnerable baby.
“He had his entire life before him,” Justice Gorton said.
“He will now never grow up.”
The judge accepted Swann was taking steps to address his anger management issues, and his prospects of rehabilitation were moderate.
But the offending was still a serious example of the serious charge of child homicide, Justice Gorton said.
Swann was jailed for 13 years but he will be eligible for parole after nine years and six months.
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