Killler Dads and Custody Lists

Monday, August 31, 2009

Dad pleads guilty to killing 4-month-old son (Collie, Australia)

We've posted on this case before. Dad JOHN PATRICK O'KANE has finally pleaded guilty to killing his 4-month-old son. His previous denials were rather silly, given that he led the police to the baby's grave.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26005947-421,00.html

Dad admits killing four-month-old son
AAP
August 31, 2009 02:30pm

A MAN accused of killing his four-month-old son and burying him in a bush grave has offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, a court has been told.

John Patrick O'Kane, 40, appeared in the Stirling Gardens Magistrates court today charged with one count of murder.

His lawyer, Terry Dobson, told the court his client would be writing to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Mr O'Kane has previously pleaded not guilty to murder.

West Australian police charged Mr O'Kane with killing his baby son Zach, after he led them to a makeshift bush grave in Wellington National Park near Collie, south of Perth, in January.

The court has previously been told the unemployed truck driver was found with a self-inflicted wound at a truck stop near the small south-west town of Pinjarra, after police appealed for information into Zach's disappearance.

Mr O'Kane has undergone a court ordered psychiatric assessment, the results of which have not been revealed.

The case has been adjourned until October 22 with Mr O'Kane remanded in custody.