Father who abandoned toddler son in park is jailed for 12 years for manslaughter

A man who abandoned his toddler in a park and then lied about what happened to him for a decade will spend a minimum of 9.6 years behind bars, Nine News reports.

Shane Arthur Simpson abandoned his toddler son by a riverside park in May 2007. Baden’s little body was never found.

Simpson, a drug addict, said he abandoned his little boy because he "was tired of caring for him… I just had enough".

He says he talked to Baden on a park bench for up to half an hour and drove off without looking back.

Baden was last seen in March 2007 but wasn't reported missing until June 2015, when the NSW community services department went looking for him.

Simpson and his partner, Baden’s mother Dina Colleen Bond, believed that the little boy was evil and called him “the devil’s child.”

His bedroom was often locked and the windows had been sprayed with black spray paint. The room also stank of human waste, as his nappies often went unchanged.

During today, Justice Peter Applegarth said the “vulnerable toddler” was presumably attracted to the water’s edge and drowned.

He also said that Simpson had “ample time” to reconsider his actions and go back and get the little boy.

Baden’s mother, Dina, is out on parole today after serving three years in jail on two counts of accessory to manslaughter.

Neither of Baden’s parents have shown remorse for their actions, it was alleged in court.