A drug-addicted father who left his toddler son to die by a river after 'everything just got too much' has lost an appeal against his 12-year jail sentence.
Shane Arthur Simpson, from Brisbane, has failed to appeal his sentence for the manslaughter of two-year-old Baden Bond, who was deserted on a park bench at dusk 50 metres from the Logan River in May 2007.
The Court of Appeal in Brisbane on Friday dismissed Simpson's argument the sentence should have been lighter because Baden's death didn't involve violence or prolonged neglect.
The court ruled the absence of violence did not prevent his behaviour being considered 'an extremely serious case of criminal negligence'.
Shane Arthur Simpson previously told the court he abandoned the child at the boat ramp near the Logan River because he was 'tired of caring for him'
In May 2007, Simpson took Baden to the park, sat with him for around 30 minutes on a bench and said sorry.
Then, without turning back once, he drove away.
Simpson said he was 'fried off my head' on drugs at the time and tired of looking after Baden, who he blamed for many of the family's woes and believed he was the 'devil's child'.
It is unknown what happened to the 22-month-old. He is presumed to have drowned alone in the dark in the river, south of Brisbane.
Simpson then lied for the next 10 years about what happened to his son, telling authorities or family either that the 'government took him', he was in foster care or staying with other family members.
Baden Bond's body has never been found and no one knows what happened to him after he was abandoned on the banks of the Logan River.
In sentencing in March, Justice Peter Applegarth labelled him selfish, malicious, callous and remorseless.
'Abandoning Baden and then never returning to save him places this in the worst category of case of manslaughter by criminal neglect,' Justice Applegarth told the Brisbane Supreme Court.
'Having abandoned him so callously and in such danger and having driven off, you did not turn around 10 minutes later or return to that area that night to remove Baden from danger.'
Baden was born with methamphetamine in his system in 2005.
He was often locked in his room which reeked of urine and faeces, had windows blacked out with spray paint, and was often left with an unchanged nappy.
'The criminal negligence led to the death of an extremely vulnerable child who was totally dependent that evening on his father to care for him and to keep him safe,' appeal court Justice Robert Gotterson said.
Shortly after birth, Baden was taken to hospital and believed to have a mild case of cerebral palsy.
The indigenous boy was immediately taken into care with a Caucasian foster family at just two weeks' old.
In October 2006, seven months before Baden's death, he was returned to his biological parents, Simpson and Bond.
Simpson, who is a long-term drug addict, abandoned the child at the boat ramp near the Logan River because he was 'tired of caring for him'
Baby Baden was last seen in March 2007, but not reported missing until June 2015
The court heard how Simpson and Bond called their son 'the devil's child', and would leave him in a locked bedroom with windows that were painted black.
His mother and father are believed to have blamed the infant for their troubles with their other children, all of whom returned to the family home a year later.
Simpson had called him a 'little c***', a 'dog f*****' and was 'nothing but trouble'.
In 2016, when Simpson finally admitted to police he'd abandoned the toddler, he said Baden was difficult and 'everything just got too much'.
RELATED ARTICLES
Ice addict father who left his baby alone to die on a park... 
EXCLUSIVE: Boy, two, was taken from his foster carers...
Share this article
ShareBaby Baden was last seen in March 2007, but not reported missing until June 2015.
His parents were charged in March 2017 after an extensive investigation found no record of Baden attending any school or medical centre in the past 10 years.
The parents had continually lied about baby Baden's whereabouts, claiming he was either in foster care, or staying with his relatives.
In the middle of the night, about three months after Simpson left Baden on the bench, the couple moved out of their home on Wagawn Street in Woodridge, south of Brisbane.
They told nobody, and did not contact their family again for a year.
Simpson will be eligible for parole after 80 per cent of his sentence is served but is unlikely to receive it because his son's body has never been found.
Simpson and the baby's mother Dina Colleen Bond called their son 'the devil's child', and would leave him in a locked bedroom with windows that were painted black
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKEdn%2BVaW1wZ4Gqsqa60qWYp5xdma6lecuena1lpKy8bsXEmqlmp5yZeoOtw56lZnqfo7FusMieZJudnpi1brjOrJysZZGlvaaty2efraWc