Robert Rivet, who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of his infant daughter, was handed a five-year sentence in a Stratford court on Friday.
The 29-year-old was found guilty in December in five-week-old Skyla Rivet's death. She died from complications following a blow to the head in January 2010.
She was discovered in medical distress in an apartment shared by Rivet and his common-law wife, Amanda Buck, and died in hospital three days later. Rivet was the one who called 911.
While Rivet was originally charged with second degree murder, a jury found him guilty of manslaughter.
The defence had been asking for one and a half to three years in prison while the Crown had asked for a five-year sentence claiming Rivet lacked empathy.
Crown prosecutor Michael Murdock says "He certainly hasn't accepted responsibility for what he did and he has every right to take that stance, but he also seems to lack an insight into how much people have been impacted whether he's responsible or not."
The judge told the court the conclusion that Rivet was responsible for the death was inescapable.
However, defence attorney Frances Brennan, says it was an isolated incident committed out of frustration.
She says her client doesn't accept the verdict of the jury, and there's no doubt he suffers the loss of his daughter deeply.
"He's dealing with the situation as well as he can. He has lost a great deal and our submission in court about how much he has lost is real. His feelings about his daughter have not changed. He is still a grieving father."
In fact, the court learned, Rivet bears a tattoo on his chest that reads 'Skyla.'
