Shaun Mate: Adelaide dad admits trying to kill his three-year-old daughter

A father has admitted to trying to kill his young daughter after maintaining his innocence for over a year. 

Shaun Mate appeared at the South Australian Supreme Court on Monday and formally pleaded guilty to attempting to gas her in their south Adelaide home. 

Mate and his then three-year-old daughter were found unconscious in a bedroom close to an open gas tank in July 2020. 

Shaun Mate, 45, has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a three-year-old girl and will be sentenced at a later date 

Both were put into induced comas as doctors worked to revive them. As soon as Mate recovered he was charged with attempted murder and has remained in police custody.

In December 2020 the Supreme Court refused to release him on home-detention bail after it heard that he had been bashed in prison.  

Opposing bail, prosecutors said Mate’s actions with his daughter were premeditated and it was ‘sheer good luck’ she was still alive, The Advertiser reported. 

The Adelaide Magistrates Court had previously heard evidence that Mr Mate had become desperate and his marriage was on the rocks leading up to the incident.

Mr Mate pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder his daughter last year.

Then just last month his defence team told a court he had admitted to opening the gas cylinder that caused him and his child to lose consciousness. 

But Marie Shaw QC, for Mate, told the court she was investigating whether her client had been mentally competent at the time of the event.

The matter has been adjourned until May. 

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14 

Mr Mate’s defence may say he wasn’t mentally competent at the time of the gas incident