An Invercargill baby killer has been paroled and says he "now knows it is much safer to leave a baby crying and walk away".
Daniel Wallis, 27, was jailed for three years and three months after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his 5-month-old premature baby daughter Hope Elizabeth Wallis McFall-Schultz.
His sentence expires in August next year and despite a psychologist assessing him as having a moderate risk of reoffending, the Parole Board last week granted him early release.
Wallis was home alone with Hope in January 2022, a month after she had been discharged from hospital.
He initially called a female relative saying the baby would not stop crying and in a later video call said he had dropped her and she was not breathing.
When the woman arrived at the house, Hope was pale, unresponsive and bleeding from her nose.
She rushed the baby to hospital while Wallis cleaned the scene, the court heard at sentencing.
When police became involved, the defendant claimed he had been trying to feed Hope when she wriggled out of his arms and landed head-first on the floor.
He said the sight of her bleeding caused him to vomit and accidentally hit the baby’s head again on the bench.
But a postmortem put paid to that explanation and Wallis eventually admitted smacking his daughter in the head up to three times.
Hope was initially resuscitated but died from her injuries several days later.
At the parole hearing last month, panel convener Kathryn Snook said there were some "concerning comments" included in a report about Wallis.
It suggested he was unable to speak about his safety plan - aside from reading it aloud - and had only given his new partner a "slimmed down" version of his crime.
However, counsel Kathy Basire stressed the then-Rolleston Prison inmate had a good understanding of his high-risk scenarios and that his girlfriend was fully aware of the circumstances surrounding Hope’s death.
"Ms Basire emphasised the other thing that Mr Wallis had learnt from the psychologist, which was that he now knows it is much safer to leave a baby crying and walk away," the parole report said.
Wallis told the board his high-risk situations included: having children in his care, isolating himself from his support and overworking to avoid dealing with psychological stress.
"He was able to refer to warning signs that his supporters need to watch out for which indicate increasing anxiety," Ms Snook said.
The board heard that Wallis had had a trusted position while in prison as a servery worker, which exposed him to pressure from other inmates who wanted larger portions.
He also had employment lined up for his release.
Wallis was paroled to an undisclosed address, where his partner of nearly three years would also move, the Parole Board said.
Among his conditions were:
• To live at an address approved by Probation.
• To comply with electronic monitoring.
• Not to have contact with any victim.
• To disclose to Probation changes in relationship status.
• To inform Probation of changes in employment.
• Not to have sole supervision of any child under 14.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz , Court reporter
