Parole has been denied for a Southland man who was jailed for the manslaughter of his son.
A Southland man who was jailed for the manslaughter of an infant has been denied parole.
Shamrock Fayne Mitchell, 45, was sentenced to four years, nine months prison for the manslaughter his 11-month-old son Honour Ashworth in January 2014.
Initially, Mitchell had told family and authorities that Honour had suffered his fatal head injuries from falling off a couch, but later he admitted that he had shaken the baby.
This is the first time Mitchell has been eligible for parole, but the board was not satisfied risk was other than undue.
The decision to deny parole was based around the board believing Mitchell had not genuinely absorbed the lessons for the Short Rehabilitation Programme he had taken, and the need for a better understanding of the offending Mitchell's safety and release proposals.
"Our view is that there needs to be some further work done in this case," the decision says.
The parole board has scheduled Mitchell to be seen for further consideration of parole in July after the judges sentencing notes were received.
He is due to be released from prison in April 2021.
The statement of facts read out at sentencing in 2017 said Honour's mother Jenna Ashworth had left her son in the care of his father at his Riverton home on the night Honour was injured.
Mitchell called 111 at 7.23pm and said Honour must have fallen off a couch and was not breathing.
Honour was taken to Southland Hospital by ambulance and was diagnosed with hemorrhaging in the brain and eyes. He was transferred to Starship Hospital in Auckland but died the next night.
A post mortem was carried out by a forensic pathologist, who said a fall from a low couch seemed unlikely to be the cause of the injuries.
A second opinion from an overseas expert agreed, saying abusive head trauma had to be seriously considered.
When interviewed by police in 2016, Mitchell said he was asleep before waking up to Honour screaming.
He ran out and saw Honour on the ground, picked him up and he went limp. He noticed stuff coming out of his mouth and nose, the summary says.
He put Honour up to his shoulder and gave him "a bit of a shake" but would not have hurt him while trying to get spew out of his mouth, Mitchell told police.
Six months later, he was interviewed by police again and when confronted with the medical evidence, he admitted to having shaken Honour.
He said he woke to Honour crying and went out to find him lying on the lounge floor beside the sofa still crying.
Mitchell was unable to calm him or have him drink milk, so he held Honour under the arms and shook him, and his head went limp, the summary says.
In a victim impact statement read at the 2017 sentencing, Honour's grandmother Kaye Hoffman said the family had believed and accepted Mitchell's story that Honour had fallen from the couch.
"There's a big piece of my family missing. He was a beautiful and happy boy."