Brisbane crash: Baby killer confirmed as only death
Baby killer who crushed his seven-week-old daughter’s skull falls victim to a fiery blast when a car hits a power pole
- Convicted baby killer identified in exclusively fatal car crash
- Rick Cataldo, 35, killed a two-month-old daughter in 2012
A man who previously served time in prison for killing his infant daughter has been identified as the only person killed in a fiery car crash.
Rick Cataldo, 35, died after crashing a car into a utility pole in Thornlands, east Brisbane, at about 10:40pm on May 15.
The crash left about 1,000 nearby homes without power and was described as “confrontational” by locals.
Footage from the crash shows a car wrapped around the pole, with the wreckage barely resembling a vehicle.
It has now been revealed that Cataldo was the only person involved in the crash.
Catildo pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 for the May 2012 death of his daughter and was serving 3 years and 9 months in prison. The baby suffered a crushed skull and several other traumatic injuries.
A convicted baby killer has been identified as the only person killed in a ‘confrontational’ car crash (pictured) in Thorlands, Brisbane on May 15.
Cataldo was paroled shortly after his conviction, as he had already served nearly four years awaiting trial.
Prosecutor, Carl Heaton, told the court that Catadalo inflicted the horrific injuries on his two-month-old daughter between seven and 10 days before her death.
A post-mortem revealed that the baby had multiple skull fractures, brain injuries, rib fractures and a twisted arm.
The girl’s mother, Michelle Catherine Leask, had seen Catadalo hit the child several times during the incident.
She noted that the child had become harder to feed and would cry more in the days leading up to her death.
Leask tried to call an ambulance, but Catadalo urged her not to so that the cannabis plants in his possession could not be found.
Rick Cataldo, 35, (pictured) pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2017 after his two-month-old daughter died of injuries sustained after Cataldo punched her
Finding her daughter pale and unresponsive, Leask took her daughter to Brisbane’s Redcliffe Hospital, where she died despite desperate attempts to revive her.
At the hospital, Cataldo lied to police about how his daughter sustained the injuries he inflicted on her.
He told them, “I dropped Lily and she hit her head,” and urged Leask to tell hospital staff that their daughter’s bruises were because “you (Leask) got her caught in the seatbelt when you got out of the car and accidentally dropped your hair’. .
Laesk was sentenced to five years’ probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
The court ruled that she had not participated in the abuse of her daughter, but had taken her to a hospital until it was too late.
At a court hearing in April of that year, Leask was described by a judge as “deeply remorseful” for her daughter’s death.