Man goes on trial for toddler's murder

A man has gone on trial in the High Court at Palmerston North today for murdering a three-year-old girl.

Sean James Donnelly, 23, pleaded not guilty to murdering Cash Meshetti McKinnon, who was found unconscious with head injuries at a Hulme St house on August 19, 2009.

She died of head injuries in Palmerston North Hospital the next day.

Members of the public gallery wept as Crown Prosecutor Chris Shannon told the jury that Cash had over 80 marks or wounds to her body.

The court heard Donnelly was looking after Cash and her two sisters, plus his own two daughters, at the time the injuries were sustained.

The prosecution said Donnelly told police his daughter must have done it, but later told a friend through text message that it was all his fault.

- NZPA