Police tested the tumble dryer allegedly used to abuse toddler Nia Glassie to see if it could carry a 16kg weight, jurors heard today.
A day before Nia died in August last year, police took the dryer to an appliance shop and tested it with a mannequin weighed down with a dive belt.
The High Court at Rotorua heard this morning that the dryer spun two rotations before the door popped open and the machine switched off.
The Crown alleges that three of the five people accused of killing the 3-year-old assaulted her by placing her in the Simpson dryer and turning it on.
It alleges that this assault was one of a series she suffered in the weeks before her death, and that it occurred three days before she was fatally kicked in the head.
Detective Constable Dennis Nairn, who was the officer in charge of scene at the Frank St house where the abuse allegedly happened, said he took the dryer to Stewart Appliances in Rotorua on August 2.
He said he used a rubber mannequin from St John ambulance which was meant to represent a 2-year-old child and was usually used in CPR training.
He said the mannequin weighed 2kg and a 14kg dive belt was attached to it before it was placed in the dryer by a staff member from the appliance shop.
"He also put some type of gauge on the dryer," Mr Nairn said.
"The dryer was then switched on and rotated two times and then the door popped open. The dryer then switched off."
Mr Nairn also gave testimony yesterday about finding a strand of hair inside the dryer.
Under cross-examination today, he was asked whether he was aware that the hair was not a human hair, but a piece of clothing fibre.
He said he was not.
A lawyer for one of the defendants also repeatedly questioned Mr Nairn about a clothesline at the Frank St house that Nia was allegedly spun on until she fell off.
The detective constable said he did not recall if the rotation of the clothesline was smooth.
Brothers Wiremu and Michael Curtis, who lived at the house with Nia and others, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the 3-year-old.
Michael's girlfriend Oriwa Kemp, Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, and Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, have denied charges of manslaughter.
The group, excluding Kuka, also face multiple charges of assault.
The Curtis brothers and Pearson allegedly placed Nia in the dryer.