Defence: Dad not necessarily baby killer

Baby Tahani Mahomed could have been fatally injured in a matter of seconds during the middle of the night without her father - her accused murderer - even knowing what happened, a High Court jury has heard.

Defence lawyer Chris Wilkinson Smith told the court at Auckland yesterday that it was possible Azees Mahomed wouldn't have known the fatal head injuries had been inflicted on the 11-week-old girl.

He said if one parent, frustrated in the middle of the night, hurt Tahani, then the first sign the other parent would have that something was wrong would be when the child failed to wake or feed properly. The assault would have been quick.

"It only takes a couple of seconds - then silence. The baby would be unconscious," he said.

Azees Mahomed and his wife Tabbasum Mahomed are both accused of failing to provide Tahani with the necessaries of life, but only Azees Mahomed faces a charge of murder and one of causing the infant grievous bodily harm.

Mr Wilkinson Smith said the Crown case was that only one of two people, the parents, could be the murderer.

Mr Mahomed and not his wife was charged with the murder, he said, largely on the transcripts of bugged conversations between the couple.

"That's the only thing on [Crown] evidence that says it's Mr Mahomed and not Mrs Mahomed."

The defence case would centre on flaws it says are in the police translation of the conversations, from Hindi into English. Mr Wilkinson Smith said there were "substantial mistakes" in the translation.

He called a Hindi expert from South Africa, Usha Desai, as a defence witness. She said she listened to one passage several times and heard Mr Mahomed say he was not guilty.

Police allege the Mahomeds coached their older daughter on how to answer questions about how Tahani was hurt.

The baby was malnourished when she died, weighing only 4kg.