Man threw daughter, killed her, court hears

A man "violently" threw or forced his baby daughter's head against an "unforgiving" hard surface that left her brain damaged and killed her, a court has heard.

Azzes Mahomed, 31, is accused of murdering his 11-week-old daughter , Tahani Mahomed, who died in Auckland's Starship Hospital on New Year's Day 2008. The baby was admitted to Middlemore Hospital in December 28, 2007 with severe head injuries.

South-African born Mahomed also faces two charges of causing Tahani grevious bodily harm for allegedly breaking her leg between October 7, 2007 and December 26 2007, inflicting a head injury causing brain damage, and an additional charge of neglect for failing to provide her with the necessities of life on about December 27-28 , which is when the Crown say the little girl was murdered.

The girl's mother Tabbasum Mahomed, 26, is charged with neglect by failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Both parents deny the charges.

In his opening address at the High Court at Auckland today prosecutor Phil Hamlin said when Tahani was born she was a good weight and health - but within 11 weeks she had been brain damaged, been neglected and not fed, left on her own in a hot car and had her left leg broken by being twisted violently.

Mr Hamlin said the Crown case was firstly about the killing of Tahani by her father and the other injuries he inflicted and then of the neglect both parents showed when they didn't get her help "when she most needed it".

During her 11 weeks alive she was in the sole care of her parents, Mr Hamlin said. After she died on January 1, 2008, a homicide inquiry was started.

Mr Hamlin: "This child was not injured in a car crash. The child was killed by someone and in the end it came down to two people, Mr and Mrs Mahomed."

When doctors examined the girl they found her breathing to be shallow and irregular, her arms and legs were extended "abnormally" and crossed over and the soft area on her head was "bulging".

A post-mortem revealed her retina had detached, her skull was fractured and there was nerve damage to her spinal cord. The Crown said the injuries could only have been caused non-accidentally, through rapid acceleration and deceleration.

"All of them happened at the same time, within a few shakes and a few hits of each other. Baby Tahani was shaken or slammed against a hard surface."

He said Tahani couldn't have injured herself but had been killed by someone. "This child wasn't even running around to cause them [injuries] herself."

When asked for an explanation at the hospital, Mrs Mahomed said the baby had been startled or frightened the night before but that she had been reacting and smiling on the way to the hospital.

The Crown will call 50 witnesses during the trial which has been set down for three weeks.