Four years for tot killer

A BABYSITTER who violently killed a toddler in his care during a two-hour long assault could spend as little as four years behind bars.

Matthew Ireland has been in custody since he drunkenly beat 18-month-old Hemi Goodwin-Burke in a vicious attack at the child’s Queensland home in March 2015.

The 31-year-old Ireland cried as he was sentenced in the Mackay Supreme Court yesterday to a maximum of eight-and-half years in prison.

He was given a non-parole period of four years for the toddler’s manslaughter.