Murder accused says he 'was in toilet' as nephew fatally hurt

An Auckland man accused of murdering his 16-month-old nephew told police he was in the toilet when the child was fatally injured.

Abhinesh Kumar Sharma, 37, a plumber of Mt Wellington, was babysitting Sachin Dhani, his nephew by marriage, on June 19, 2007 when the toddler received serious head injuries.

Sachin died in Starship Hospital when his life support was turned off. Sharma, who has denied a charge of murder, is on trial at the High Court at Auckland.

In her closing address to the jury, Sharma's lawyer, Maria Pecotic, said he was in the toilet when he heard "baby sounds" followed by Sachin crying.

When he went to see what was going on, other children he was babysitting in the house told him nothing had happened. Sharma then sat on the couch and spoke to his wife on the phone.

After the call ended he saw Sachin nodding his head and thought he might want to sleep. He took him into a bedroom and Sachin's head fell back and his body went floppy.

Sharma gently shook him to rouse him, but when that didn't work he phoned Sachin's mother Sashi Dhani and told her Sachin was unwell.

Ms Pecotic said Sharma told police he didn't know what had happened to Sachin, but he "did nothing to cause the death of Sachin Dhani".

The other children told Sharma that Sachin fell off the couch, as they drove to see the injured toddler in hospital, she said.

"He was relying on what the other children told him - that [Sachin] fell from the couch."

"He was not in the room at the relevant time when Sachin fell and hurt himself," she said.

It was also possible the children - either through rough playing or pushing and pulling - could have unintentionally injured Sachin and then put him back on the couch.

In his summary of the Crown case against Sharma, prosecutor Phil Hamlin said there was one reason Sharma did what he did to Sachin, and that was anger.

"Like any human being he can get angry ... it's what you do with that anger that's important," he said.

Mr Hamlin said Sharma shook the child violently then slammed him against the floor leaving him with a "balloon" sized bump on his head and serious brain damage.

Sharma never mentioned the balloon sized bump to Sachin's mother when he called her and said the child was unwell.

He didn't call an ambulance because he didn't want authorities in his house, Mr Hamlin said.

"He was delaying the inevitable.

"If you look at these injuries there's no other explanation for them."

Justice Geoffrey Venning will sum up the case this morning and the jury will then begin its deliberations.