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NELSON - It took a jury just 2-1/2 hours to find a South Otago man guilty of murdering his seven-month-old baby daughter.
At the end of a seven-day trial in the High Court at Nelson yesterday the jury of eight women and four men convicted Kevin Joseph Charles Little, 27, of drowning Alyssa Patricia Little-Murphy in a bath.
When the foreman read the verdict, Little gasped, leaned forward and grabbed the rails of the dock for support.
Little, of Kaitangata, had denied murdering his baby at the Nelson home of his former partner last March.
Alyssa was found by her mother, Chontelle Murphy, floating face down in the bath, but failed to respond to Ms Murphy's frantic attempts to revive her.
Little was living at his former partner's house in the midst of an acrimonious break-up. Shortly before Alyssa's death, Ms Murphy hired a lawyer to help remove him from the property.
On the morning Alyssa drowned, the jury was told, Ms Murphy was gardening when she heard a loud moan from Little and found him standing in the bathroom wrapped in a towel while their daughter floated apparently lifeless in the bath.
Ms Murphy tried desperately to resuscitate Alyssa while waiting for an ambulance but her efforts were in vain.
Little, in an interview with police several days later, claimed he'd slipped while getting out of the bath with Alyssa and knocked himself unconscious, dropping the infant back into the water.
Giving evidence on his own behalf in court on Monday, Little broke down weeping as he told the jury of the day she died, saying the 10 months since had been "utterly disgusting" emotionally.
He said he'd slipped on soap or a flannel on the floor, his right leg gave way and he fell, hitting his head.
When he came to, Little said, he saw Alyssa in the bath.
He denied that a 5cm cut on his forehead had been self-inflicted, and he denied putting his hand over Alyssa's mouth or nose to cause asphyxiation.
Little said it was "absurd" to say he murdered his daughter.
But the jury disagreed, returning a guilty verdict after a short deliberation that surprised many court staff.
When the foreman announced the verdict, Little, wearing an olive green polo shirt and black trousers, made a gasping noise, moaned "no" and leaned on the front of the dock with his head bowed.
Ms Murphy burst into tears in the public gallery and was supported immediately by family and friends. Little's father, sitting in the front row of the gallery just behind his son, slumped forward in tears, his hands on his face and his elbows resting on his knees.
Justice Warwick Gendall remanded Little in custody until March 30, saying he wanted reports before passing sentence.
Little, red-faced and stifling sobs, was led away flanked by two prison officers.
Justice Gendall thanked the jurors for their "onerous responsibility" and excused them from further service for five years.
- NZPA
