Murder accused Troy Taylor admits dropping baby Ihaka Stokes

Murder accused Troy Taylor today admitted dropping baby Ihaka Stokes the night before he's alleged to have killed him. Photo / File

Murder accused Troy Taylor today admitted dropping baby Ihaka Stokes the night before he's alleged to have killed him.

Taylor, 23, denies murdering 14-month-old Ihaka at a Christchurch house on July 3, 2015.

The de-facto stepfather claims that Mikala Stokes, his former partner and Ihaka's mother, inflicted the boy's fatal injuries while he wasn't home.

Taylor is giving evidence on day seven of his trial at the High Court in Christchurch.

The night before the alleged murder, Taylor says he heard two separate bangs from Ihaka's room.

On the second bang, he got up to check on Ihaka and found him with some bleeding around his mouth. He also "looked a little bit dazed and confused".

He got him up, put Bonjela teething gel on his mouth and they sat in the lounge by the fire in the dark to make sure he was all right, Taylor told the jury.

After about 10 minutes, Taylor says he sat up too quick, got dizzy and "then I dropped him".

Taylor cried as he said: "As I was standing up, I stumbled and it's really all I remember and then Ihaka was on the ground."

Murder accused Troy Taylor, 23, denies murdering 14-month-old Ihaka at a Christchurch house on July 3, 2015.

He picked up the child and cradled him, the court heard.

Ihaka didn't cry or make any noises, Taylor said.

He stayed up with him for "a few hours", saying he "just wanted to keep an eye on him".

In the early hours of the morning, satisfied that Ihaka was "happy and okay", he put him back to bed.

The next morning, he told Stokes Ihaka had suffered a fall in the night and bitten the inside of his lip.

Taylor said the child had the "worst bruise I've ever seen Ihaka with" on the right side of his chin. His cheek was also swollen, he said.

The couple took Ihaka to the doctor in the morning for a check-up.

But Taylor admitted he didn't tell the doctor or Stokes that he'd dropped the boy.

"I thought she might've gotten angry and I was quite upset with myself as well because I felt it was my fault."

Taylor has also today explained his version of events on the night that Ihaka died.

He says that while he was out getting a tattoo - the period of time he says Stokes caused the boy's fatal injuries - Stokes had texted to say she had had to "walk away" from Ihaka.

When he got home at about 6.30-7pm that night, he says Stokes was "cold, standoffish".

He says he heard Ihaka grizzling in his bedroom. He says he popped his head in the door and assumed he was nearly asleep.

After making himself dinner, and watching TV, Taylor says he checked on Ihaka as he went to bed shortly after 8.30pm.

As he approached his cot, Ihaka was lying on his back, eyes partially open, staring up at the roof, Taylor told the court.

"It was really odd that he didn't even acknowledge me," he said.

He asked Stokes when the child last had Pamol, but she allegedly told him that he didn't need any more.

Taylor says he was worried about the boy and climbed into the cot with him.

Moving him onto his chest, he found him floppy with raspy breathing.

"There was, like, nothing there. Moving him, his head sort of dropped down."

Taylor says he had one arm across him, rubbing his back and telling him, "It's okay, I'm here."

Asked by defence counsel Phil Shamy if Ihaka made any noises or responded in any way, Taylor became upset and said no.

It was then, Taylor says he thought Stokes "might've done something".

"She might've lost it," Taylor said, thinking she might've got frustrated in trying to get him to sleep.

However, he soon doubted that she would've harmed him, and put it down to the falls the night before.

"I was worried. But I also thought he would be fine."

Taylor says he lay in the cot with Ihaka until Stokes came in and said: "Get out and come to bed."

Earlier, co-defence counsel and brother Simon Shamy told the jury that the nub of the defence case was that Stokes, not Taylor, caused the 59 injuries that killed Ihaka.

"The Crown case unravels because there is no proof that it was Troy Taylor rather than Mikala Stokes who delivered these injuries," Shamy said.

Taylor was earlier asked about his relationship to Ihaka. He replied: "I don't care what anyone thinks - he is my son."

"I loved them and considered them to be my children."

Taylor also told how he'd planned to adopt Ihaka and Stokes' second child as his own, and that he'd also given Stokes a "commitment ring" to show that one day he would marry her.

Asked about his relationship with Stokes, he became emotional: "She was my best friend. I loved her."

The Crown concluded its case this morning.

Both the Crown and the defence agree there were no intruders on that fateful night and that the boy's 59 injuries, including broken bones, were not accidental.

The Crown says that Taylor was suffering from sleep deprivation, headaches, and irritability caused by multiple concussions around the time Ihaka was developing an ear infection, when he allegedly caused the fatal injuries.

Stokes, who was 36 weeks' pregnant with her second child at the time of Ihaka's death, repeatedly denied the accusations when she gave evidence last week.

Taylor also denies assaulting the child on July 2, 2015 - the day before the alleged murder.

The trial, before Justice Cameron Mander, continues with Taylor's evidence.