A police officer who punched his infant son with such force it burst the baby's liver and killed him instantly could be released from jail within days after spending five years behind bars.
Colin David Randall, a former
Queensland police officer, then 39, was having two affairs when his wife Debra left him with their newborn son Kye as she went to the shops with their daughter on June 28, 2014.
Randall called her an hour later to tell her the 10-week-old was 'limp and not breathing' but he had not called an ambulance.
Debra told him to call paramedics and rushed back to their house to find Randall lying in the hallway on his stomach repeating 'oh s***' while Kye lay on his back in front of him.
Three days before his 2018 murder trial, Randall admitted he had punched the child and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
At his sentencing, Justice Peter Davis said he believed the reason Randall lied about what he had done was the same reason he finally admitted killing his son.
'Your motivation is self-preservation,' he said.
'Manslaughter seems to have been the best outcome you could have hoped for in a trial.'
Justice Davis said while he accepted Randall's decision to punch his son was spontaneous, it was 'very deliberate'.