Brisbane crash: Baby killer confirmed as only death

A man previously jailed for killing his baby daughter has been identified as the sole person killed in a fiery car crash.

Rick Cataldo, 35, died after crashing a car into an electrical pole at about 10:40pm on May 15 in Thornlands, Brisbane’s east.

The crash left about 1,000 nearby homes without power and was described as ‘confronting’ by locals.

Images of the crash show a car wrapped around the pole, with the wreckage barely resembling a vehicle. 

Now, it has emerged that Cataldo was the sole person involved in the crash. 

Catildo pled guilty to manslaughter in 2017 for the May 2012 death of his daughter and served 3 years and 9 months in prison. The baby suffered a crushed skull and several other traumatic injuries. 

Cataldo was released on Parole shortly after being sentenced as he had already served almost four years while awaiting trial.

Prosecutor, Carl Heaton, told the court Catadalo had inflicted the horrifying injuries on his two-month old daughter between seven and ten days before her death.

A post-mortem revealed the baby had multiple skull fractures, a brain injury, rib fractures and a twisted arm.

The girl’s mother, Michelle Catherine Leask, had seen Catadalo strike the child numerous times during the incident.

She noted the child had become harder to feed and would cry more in the days leading up to her death. 

Leask attempted to call an ambulance but Catadalo urged her not to so cannabis plants in his possession could not be found.

Rick Cataldo, 35, (pictured) plead guilty to manslaughter in 2017 after his two-month-old daughter died from injuries from injuries sustained after Cataldo struck her

Upon finding her daughter pale and unresponsive, Leask took her daughter to Brisbane’s Redcliffe Hospital where she died despite desperate attempts to revive her.

While at the hospital, Cataldo lied to police about how his daughter received the injuries he had inflicted upon her.

He told them ‘I dropped Lily and she hit her head’, and urged Leask to tell hospital staff that their daughter’s bruises came from ‘you (Leask) getting her tangled up in the seatbelt getting out of the car and you accidentally dropping her’.

Laesk was sentenced to a five year suspended sentence after pleading guilty for manslaughter.

The court found she had not participated in the assault of her daughter but had delayed taking her to a hospital until it was too late.

During a court hearing in April of that year, Leask was described by a judge as ‘profoundly remorseful’ for her daughter’s death.