He earned $160,000 a year, yet a Melbourne father let his family live in a filthy home which led to the death of his five-year-old son who cut his foot on a discarded cat food can.
Victorian County Court Judge Michael Rozenes on Thursday said the man, who cannot be named, had committed a gross breach of the duty of care by allowing his two sons to live in such squalid conditions.
But he said the man, 43, had already been punished enough, following the death of his wife and his son and the removal of his other son, and spared him from jail.
"The decision to suspend your sentence was a difficult one for me," Judge Rozenes said.
"It's hard to believe that anyone could have committed a human, let alone young children, to live in such squalor."
The Melbourne house where the family lived has been described as being in a state of extreme squalor, littered with rotting and spoilt food, mould, faeces and broken furniture.
The court had previously heard the mother had threatened to take the boys away if the man forced her to clean, and that she had hidden from him the fact they weren't attending school.
Judge Rozenes said photos of the house were most horrific and were only exceeded in shock impact by the autopsy photos.
He said the man could not have avoided seeing the vast difference between his "absolutely despicable" home and what he saw when he went out into society.
The five-year-old boy died in 2012 after cutting a his foot on the cat food tin lying among the rubbish in the house.
A post-mortem could not identify the cause of death, but the court had previously heard it could have been tetanus or botulism.
The boy's mother found him lifeless in his bedroom and took him to a local ambulance branch where paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
The dead boy was born on the floor of the house and barely left - having never gone to school or even had his birth registered - in the five years before he died.
Judge Rozenes said the man's contribution to the care of his two children had been nothing short of shameful.
He said a responsible parent would have removed the children and called the authorities.
Both the mother and father pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless conduct endangering serious injury but the mother died last month.
He convicted the man on each of the two charges and sentenced him to three years for each conviction, wholly suspended for three years.
"I believe you have been sufficiently punished already," Judge Rozenes said.
"You have lost your children and your wife.
"You have cleaned up your house. It's spotless and you sit there silently.
"There is no one left."
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