Sickening toddler abuse exposed in baby Mason Lee court case

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: Queensland Opposition leader Tim Nicholls has called for an immediate inquest into the death of toddler Mason Lee, who's lifeless body was found riddled with broken bones, ruptured organs and leaked faecal matter, according to court documents.

Mason's beaten and swollen body was lifted from his stepfather's Caboolture home, in Brisbane, onto a stretcher and into the back of an ambulance in the early hours of June 11.

He was just 21 months old when his tiny body sustained gruesome injuries and bruises “head to toe”.

Now the Queensland Opposition leader has called for a coronial inquest in a bid to stop other children slipping through the child services cracks.

"It is about understanding what occurred, whether it was at the hospital, whether it was with the doctors, whether it was with the response by the child protection department. It's about a very public, open and transparent way, knowing exactly what is happening with the Queensland child protection system," Tim Nicholls said in Parliament on Tuesday.

"And taking steps, if recommendations are made by the coroner, to ensure that those sorts of things can't happen again. And that we are doing our very best to protect children who might be at risk in Queensland."

Mason's mother Anne-Maree Lee, 37, her partner and Mason's stepfather William O'Sullivan, and Mr O'Sullivan's roommate Ryan Hodson, 17, allowed Mason to die rather than seek help, a Queensland court was told.

Ms Lee lived several streets away with her four other children and prosecutors allege she did nothing to stop Mason's shocking abuse and rarely kept medical appointments for him.

Under current laws, a coronial inquest can not be held when criminal proceedings are underway or appeals are possible, meaning an inquest into Mason's death could still be years away.

But Mr Nicholls says the inquest should be heard as soon as criminal proceedings against Ms Lee, Mr O'Sullivan and Mr Hodson were complete.

A police affidavit obtained by the Courier Mail revealed the little boy lived a short and tragic life before infection set in, which slowly killed him.

Paramedics allegedly found Mason covered in vomit, wearing a faeces-stained singlet.

Underneath the singlet his abdomen, arms and legs were battered, bruised and scarred, the document states.

Blood had pooled around his neck and ears, a bruise had swallowed his eye and the rest of his skin was glazed, red and puffy.

Organs were ripped from his abdominal cavity and his arms appeared to be ruptured.

According to the newspaper, the boy's anus had been torn open.

A post-mortem examination revealed Mason had a broken coccyx and a healing fracture in his leg.

The tissue between the scalp and skull was separated, which it is believed to be from “forceful” pulling of his hair.

A tear in Mason’s small intestine caused faecal matter to leak into his abdomen, making him sick for days before an infection began to slowly kill him.

His mother claims she knew nothing about this illness.

Mason was allegedly at O'Sullivan and Hodson's home for at least a week before he was found dead.

Text messages were allegedly sent between O'Sullivan and Lee debating who should be the one to take Mason to a doctor.

• Mason Lee taken for McDonald's at 3am while suffering illness in days before death

• Sickening photo sent to Mason Lee's mother day before toddler tragically died

A visitor arrived at the home on June 11 and made a call to triple-0.

Soon after, paramedics arrived and declared him dead.

“Two police and two ambos did their jobs and then they all just dropped to the gutter. There were ambos sobbing,” a neighbour told News Corp.

“They had to be taken away. They couldn’t deal with what they had seen.”

Lee and Hodson were charged with manslaughter last Monday and were denied bail in the Toowoomba Magistrate's Court.

O'Sullivan, facing the same charge, is also behind bars and did not apply for bail when he appeared in court last month.

According to the affidavit, Mason was taken to the Morayfield Medical Centre in January with a sore left leg, bruised head and damaged lip.

He was then referred to the Caboolture Hospital emergency department but police documents reveal there was never any record of the toddler there.

One month later, a home doctor visited Mason and diagnosed him with a severely infected leg and said he needed “extensive surgical and medical intervention”.

The doctor sent him to hospital where he required a blood transfusion.

Mason was sent home weeks later and his mother was told she “needed to do more” for her boy.

The chilling details come one day after it was revealed Mason had been been vomiting for days before he was seen on CCTV footage returning home from McDonald’s, early in the morning on June 7.

In the footage, Mr Hodson was allegedly heard telling the toddler: “Come on c***t you walk like a spastic.”

“Hurry up and grab your f***king bottle. Mason, get here if you want your f***king bottle.”

A retail worker from a local shopping centre told police she saw Ms Lee with Mr O’Sullivan, Mr Hodson and Mason and commented on how the little boy looked "unwell and sickly”.

Hodson’s girlfriend, Sheila Low, said Lee asked her to help in getting Mason back from Mr O’Sullivan, the newspaper reports.

“Low stated that the deceased child wasn’t moving and was only staring and looked pale,” the affidavit reads.

She allegedly told Ms Lee to call the police, but the mother replied back and said: “I’m no dog.”

Investigations are continuing as prosecutors try to find out who inflicted the shocking injuries, one of which includes the rupturing of Mason's small intestine that allegedly lead to his death.

Lee claims she was in an abusive relationship with O’Sullivan but had planned to leave.

It was alleged her partner had refused her access to see her child.

Magistrate Graham Lee said the case against Lee was "very serious" and found there was an unacceptable risk of her not appearing at future court dates.

News break – August 1