A nomadic father who drowned his infant son, Elijah Rainbow, in a Brisbane river has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail.
Elijah was the first-born son, and fifth child, of the nomadic Fisher family, who travel Australia in a brightly coloured bus, while chronicling their adventures on a blog.
His mother, Lauren Fisher, was profiled by the Weekly in 2013. She continues her life on the road with her four daughters, all of whom are home-schooled, and she runs a blog called Sparkling Adventures.
Lauren recently gave birth to a sixth child, also a boy, which she gave away to a gay couple in Iceland, as part of a surrogacy agreement.
The ABC reports that Elijah’s father, David Paul Fisher, 42, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail but, having served more than three years already, will come up for parole on December 22.
The ABC says Elijah’s father “had consumed mescaline and cannabis and was suffering a psychiatric condition” when he took his six-month-old son for a walk in June 2012.
“He jumped 10 metres into the Logan River with the infant in his arms, and made the intentional decision to push him away knowing he would drown.
“Fisher surfaced from the water without his son, and reported the baby missing on his return home.
“Psychiatric assessments stated that Fisher was suffering from severe psychosis and delusional, and that he had formed the opinion that his son must die.
“More than three years after his son’s drowning, Fisher told the court he was haunted by the loss. ‘I’m very remorseful and I cry for my baby boy every night,’ he said.”
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