Police acknowledge the sentencing today for Phillip John Welsh who pled guilty to the manslaughter of 17-month-old Malcolm Bell.

He was sentenced to 5 years and 11 months in prison.

Malcolm’s life was cruelly taken from him in June 2019.

He was a vulnerable little boy and he should have been safe in his home.

The offender’s guilty plea shows Police carried out a thorough investigation.

I would like to thank all Police staff who worked on this case, it is never easy to deal with investigations such as these, but we do it because we wanted justice for Malcolm.

Our thoughts and sympathies continue to be with Malcolm’s family and whānau.

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