Ariah Robert's mother has given evidence at Auckland High Court, describing the two-year-old, who was born 10 weeks premature, as her "miracle child".
Ariah's mother, whose identity is suppressed, told the court she was extremely "protective" of the toddler and would "never have left her with anyone I didn't trust completely".
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The two-year-old died at her home in Mangawhai Heads in August last year from a blunt-force injury.
She was allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend of six months, 31-year-old Aaron Archer.
Archer was home alone with Ariah at the time while her mother went to buy groceries. Within minutes, Archer called his gilrfriend to say the toddler had stopped breathing.
Archer maintains it was an accident.
Defence lawyers have suggested that Archer could have lost his grip on the toddler while swinging her around playfully, causing her to hit her head on the wall and then the floor when she fell.
There were tears in the public gallery on Wednesday as pathologist Dr Rexson Tse detailed the size and number of Ariah Roberts' bruises. He told the court there were at least 20 on her head alone.
"It is very, very, very unlikely that this is from an accident," Dr Tse told the court.
Both Ariah's alleged killer and her mother were brought to tears in court, as they relived the day her life came to end - even more prematurely than it began.
Newshub.
