He Had 75 Bruises On His Body- The Story of Hemi Goodwin Burke

He Had 75 Bruises On His Body- The Story of Hemi Goodwin Burke

The doctor she needed to see for her injured back was hours away, so it would have to be an overnight trip. Then, right before her and her family were set to leave, their car broke down and they had to borrow a much smaller one. This meant that their children couldn’t go with them, and this minor hiccup would soon turn into a devastating nightmare.

A Vibrant Little Boy

This is the story of Hemi Goodwin-Burke. Hemi Goodwin-Burke was born on September 23rd, 2013, to his parents Shane Burke and Kerri-Ann Goodwin in Proserpine, Queensland, Australia. He had an older sister named Tara whom he adored; the two were always together. Hemi was also lovingly referred to as “H-bomb.” He was described as a vibrant little boy with a big smile and a compassionate demeanor. Hemi was a quick learner, and at 6 months he was taking swimming lessons, which he loved. He was obsessed with being in the water, and little Hemi was also already walking by only 8 months old.

In March of 2015, when Hemi was 18 months old, his parents needed to take a trip from their home in the central Queensland coal mining town of Moranbah to Brisbane. The trip was a long one at around 620 miles, but they needed to go because Kerri-Ann needed to see a doctor as she had recently obtained a back injury. She had gotten this back injury at work, and the neurosurgeon that she needed to go to was in Brisbane.

Now, originally, Shane and Kerri-Ann were going to make the trip with the two children. However, as the trip got closer, their car broke down and they had to borrow a ute, which has only two seats and would not allow any room for the children. So unfortunately, instead of the whole family going, they had to leave the children behind. And they were going to entrust the care of Hemi and his sister to a man named Matthew Ireland.

The Babysitter

Matthew Ireland had known Shane for about a decade. Shane and Matthew had actually worked together in the coal mines for years, and recently Matthew had also started doing small jobs around Shane’s house for him. They were pretty good friends at this point. Matthew had always presented himself as trustworthy and reliable, and he had no criminal record, so everything seemed to check out.

On the day that Kerri-Ann and Shane had to go to Brisbane, on March 24th, 2015, Matthew went to the family’s house to watch the children. When Matthew arrived, the couple spoke with him briefly and told him that there was no alcohol in the house. Though I’m not entirely sure why they specifically told him there was no alcohol—if he had a past problem with alcohol, I’m not sure, that’s my guess. Either way, Kerri-Ann and Shane felt confident that their children would be in good hands with their friend Matthew.

Later that day, after the couple had already made it to Brisbane and Kerri-Ann had attended her doctor’s appointment, they called Matthew to check in and see how things were going. At that time, Matthew said everything was fine. The couple was set to leave and go back home the following day, so after Kerri-Ann and Shane had spoken with Matthew, they went to bed.

The Nightmare Begins

However, the couple was awoken only a few hours later to a series of missed phone calls from Hemi’s grandparents. When they called them back, they told the couple that they needed to get back home immediately and to the hospital because Hemi had been taken there, and they needed to call the police. Kerri-Ann and Shane, who were scared and confused, instantly flew back home and went to the Townsville Hospital where their baby boy was on life support. He was in critical condition.

Hemi had originally been taken to Moranbah Hospital, but his condition was so bad that he was shortly after flown to Townsville Hospital. When Hemi’s parents finally arrived at the hospital, the devastated parents were told that their son Hemi had a ruptured spleen, a broken rib, and a severed brain stem. He was also covered in bruises, and it was later determined that he had 75 bruises in total. 75 over his tiny little body.

Hemi’s injuries were so severe that he was declared brain dead, and his parents were told that there was no chance that he would recover. Doctors told Kerri-Ann and Shane that the brain stem injury that Hemi had obtained meant that he had really just died at home, and the machines now were just keeping him alive. So the following day, on March 26th, 2015, 18-month-old Hemi was taken off life support and he was pronounced dead.

Shane would say, “You could tell he was gone when we walked into the room, because really he had died in the bathroom when his brain stem was severed. That’s the force that was impacted on him, enough to sever his brain stem.”

The Investigation

Now, the ambulance driver who had brought Hemi into the hospital had also called the police to alert them that there was suspicion that Matthew had done this to him. After hearing this, police called Matthew and asked him to meet them at the family’s house so he could give police his version of what had happened to Hemi. While there, Matthew showed investigators where he had given Hemi CPR, and when the investigator asked him to show him where Hemi’s room was, he did. He noticed that Hemi’s crib was covered in blood and feces. He said that the blood also continued onto the floor. At that point, the investigator knew that something was not right here; he knew that this was not an accident.

While there, police obtained a preliminary version of events from Matthew Ireland, Hemi’s babysitter. Of course, the first few versions of events he gave were complete [ __ ] and made up. He would end up giving four different versions in total. Matthew originally told the police that Hemi had suffered a seizure, but then he changed the story and said that his sister had actually hurt the little boy and had hit him with a chair. There we go, blaming kids again.

Finally, after detectives had called out many inconsistencies with Matthew’s story, he told them what had really happened to Hemi. Matthew told police that Hemi had hit his head on the side of the bathtub when Matthew had violently jerked his leg out from underneath him. Matthew had actually beaten up the helpless toddler over the course of a 2-hour period, though later in court Matthew would say it was over the course of a 10-hour period. Either way, this little boy suffered immensely.

Almost as soon as Kerri-Ann and Shane had left the house on March 24th and left Matthew with their children, Matthew locked the children in the house and went to buy alcohol. When he returned, he sat outside the apartment drinking, and every time he would go back inside, he would apply another form of violence to little Hemi. Whether it was kicking him like a football, picking him up by the throat, crushing him like a Coke can, or pushing him down hard into his cot, he did more and more every time he went back into the house.

He later said he “lost his [ __ ].” The little boy’s body was covered in 75 bruises from being kicked and punched repeatedly. Police originally charged Matthew Ireland with torture and grievous bodily harm, but when Hemi’s life support had been switched off, they charged Matthew with murder instead.

A Grave Injustice

After Hemi’s death, his parents would blame themselves for letting a predator into their home. Their home, which was supposed to be Hemi’s safe haven. Kerri-Ann would publicly say, “I am so sorry Hemi. I am so sorry.” The couple had trusted Matthew Ireland; they believed the man was their friend, and he had done this to their child, and they could not understand why.

The night that Hemi had been injured, Kerri-Ann and Shane had spoken to Matthew on the phone around 6:30 p.m. As I had said earlier, at that time he said everything was fine. If things were getting to be too much for him, he could have at that point told them. But he didn’t, because he’s just a violent piece of [ __ ]. Hemi’s mom, Kerri-Ann, believes that once Matthew started beating her little boy, he just couldn’t stop.

While Hemi’s case was still awaiting its day in Supreme Court, his parents were told that Matthew Ireland wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter. They were expecting him to plead guilty or go to trial for murder because that’s what he had been charged with after Hemi had died. Hemi’s parents absolutely did not agree with the downgrade in Matthew’s charges, and they told the court this. They said that they would rather bring the case to trial.

But regardless of what the parents whose child had just been murdered said, the court decided to still go ahead and downgrade Matthew Ireland’s charges to just manslaughter. Now, the maximum sentence for manslaughter is only 10 years, but the court told the couple that his intent would be hard to prove. So, on the day that Matthew Ireland’s trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and as I had said, the maximum sentence is 10 years, and he would be eligible for parole after only four.

The Sentencing

In June of 2017, Matthew was sentenced for Hemi’s murder. He was only sentenced, though, to 8 years and 6 months in jail. He sat there crying in the dock as he was read this sentence, and he also mouthed “I’m sorry” to Hemi’s parents—which means nothing at this point. And since Matthew had been in jail ever since the horrific attack on this little boy, he had already served 2 years, which would mean he would be eligible for parole in March of 2019.

When Matthew was given his sentence by the judge, Hemi’s family erupted. They were already infuriated that Matthew had not even been tried for murder, but manslaughter instead. One of them yelled, “You’re an effing murderer and you should be ashamed of yourself!”

“The justice system has let Hemi down. Allowing an early plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter and then seeking a light sentence today, the judge has not only let Hemi down, he’s also letting down the Australian people. This vicious criminal will be eligible for parole in only, I think it’s 17 months. I’m sure that the good, decent people of Australia will agree that this is not justice. We have continually been denied information and our thoughts, opinions, and pleas have fallen on deaf ears. This, however, will not deter us, and we will continue to do whatever we can to make sure that this violent offender doesn’t have the opportunity to do this again.”

In addition to this already grave injustice, Hemi’s family planned on wearing t-shirts with the toddler’s face on them to Matthew’s sentencing. However, Justice Duncan McMeekin told them to not wear them because he did not want a silent protest in court. As Hemi’s mother Kerri-Ann would say, “We have to sit there and look at the murderer’s face, but he can’t look back at his victim’s face? Doesn’t seem right.”

Even though the shirts were not allowed in the courtroom, as Matthew Ireland was led away to continue his jail term, a handful of people in the public gallery quickly opened their jackets to reveal the shirts blazing “Justice for Hemi.”

A System That Failed The Victims

Hemi’s parents were not kept informed or permitted to advocate for their child in the prosecution process at all. They were also censored in their Victim Impact Statements and had been kept in the dark about the prosecution of Matthew Ireland. After Matthew Ireland’s sentencing, Hemi’s family started a petition to the Queensland Attorney-General, and they also attempted to appeal Matthew’s sentence. However, they were unsuccessful in their appeal, and Matthew’s guilty plea to manslaughter—which kept the case from going to trial—also meant that Hemi’s parents would not find out exactly what had happened to their little boy on that devastating day.

Now, Hemi’s older sister had been present when Hemi was attacked. She had seen everything, and afterwards, she would have to be comforted by her mother in the middle of the night because she would wake up screaming from awful nightmares. Partway through his sentencing, Matthew would plead guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm. Apparently, he had struck a three-year-old little girl in the head the same month that he had attacked Hemi. I’m guessing that the three-year-old little girl was Hemi’s older sister, but I’m not absolutely sure on that because it doesn’t say. But this guilty plea only resulted in Matthew getting an additional 6 months, even though the prosecution had asked for 18.

When he was sentenced for his crime, the then six-year-old little girl whom Matthew had attacked read out loud her Victim Impact Statement, saying she feared that the bad men would come get her again. She went on to say, “Why did you hit me? I am little and you are a big, strong, brave man.”

Matthew’s lawyer claimed that he had been diagnosed with PTSD, borderline schizophrenia, as well as bipolar disorder. And Matthew’s lawyer also told the court that his client was in protective custody because he had been attacked four times in prison. That’s called prison justice—the only real form of justice sometimes.

Parole and A Fight for Change

March of 2019 came much too soon, as Hemi’s parents, Shane and Kerri-Ann, were fighting to keep their child’s murderer, Matthew Ireland, behind bars as he was now eligible for parole. A petition on Change.org was made. It read: “This is a matter of public safety. We cannot let this convicted child killer into our community where he could violently take another child’s life.”

Thousands of people backed Hemi’s parents in this. They were enraged at the weak excuse of a sentence that Matthew had been given. A distressed Kerri-Ann said that Matthew’s parole eligibility date was a disgrace, and she urged the parole board to not release him. Kerri-Ann would say, “He wants to come out and live his life and that hurts. It hurts big time. This guy thinks he can kill Hemi and four years down the track he can come out and go on living a merry life. I don’t think it’s fair.”

The couple has become outspoken campaigners for longer sentences for violence against children since their little boy’s tragic death, and have called on the parole board to listen to the victims’ families. Hemi’s parents wondered how the parole board could even consider this baby killer as rehabilitated and how was Hemi’s life only worth 4 years?

At this time, their efforts may have paid off as Matthew Ireland’s parole was denied in 2019. Unfortunately, he would be released only a few years later in September of 2023, and coincidentally, his release date was one day before Hemi would have celebrated his 10th birthday.

Hemi’s grandmother, 63-year-old Lynn Burke, called out to Matthew Ireland as he walked out of the Wolston Correctional Centre. She called out his name, and Matthew looked at her. She yelled, “You’re free today and we still have our life sentences!” to which Matthew replied, “You don’t know what it’s been like in there.” Oh yeah, but aren’t you still alive?

Hemi’s family remained strong despite this, and they lit 10 candles on a cake for Hemi, as well as sung “Happy Birthday” in his memory.

Hemi’s Legacy

After years of pushing and fighting for tougher sentences for child killers in Queensland, Kerri-Ann and Shane finally saw new legislation that addressed this being passed. Under the new law, convicted killers whose callous disregard causes death will be jailed for life or face an indefinite sentence, and will only be eligible for parole after 20 years. Now, they fought so hard for a change in the law in Hemi’s memory.

Kerri-Ann and Shane now live with their 11-year-old daughter in Far North Queensland. They’ve gone to a small town where nobody knows them so they can go on living their lives. Hemi Goodwin-Burke’s funeral service was held on May 8th, 2015, at the St Luke’s Anglican Church, Prince Edward Drive, Townsville. He was then buried at the Mount Bassett Cemetery in Mackay, Queensland.

Well, thank you for listening to all of Hemi’s story today. I don’t see this as justice. Sure, he had to serve 4 years, only four years though, for a child’s life, an innocent child, and he did it in such a cruel and intentional way too. This makes me so sad for Hemi’s family, knowing that they will probably never be at peace because they didn’t get justice for their little boy, and the man that did this to him is now back out on the streets.