KEY POINTS:
A defence witness has dismissed claims the Kahui twins were injured shortly before one of the babies stopped breathing.
Dr James Ferris, a forensic pathologist, told the High Court at Auckland yesterday that evidence given by a previous witness saying the timing of injuries could be narrowed to just before they started showing symptoms was wrong.
The Crown alleges Kahui murdered his twin sons in June 2006. They died of major brain injuries and the Crown case is that Kahui inflicted the injuries in a stress-induced rage.
The defence case is that someone else, probably the babies' mother, Macsyna King, harmed them earlier.
A Crown witness, Dr Patrick Kelly, had said he believed the babies would have been hurt just minutes before it was noticed baby Cru had turned purple and wasn't breathing.
But Dr Ferris said he couldn't rule out the babies being hurt as many as eight hours before Cru stopped breathing and that Dr Kelly's opinion wasn't supported by medical evidence.
Under cross-examination by Simon Mount for the Crown, Dr Ferris said Dr Kelly was expressing non-expert opinion and it was an earlier witness, a radiologist, who was the expert.
He told the court he wouldn't rely on Dr Kelly's evidence, saying he felt it was "speculation" trying to pinpoint the exact time the babies were hurt.
The trial continues on Monday.
