Timothy Andrew Whiteley has been found guilty of murder over the death of a toddler in the Hunter in 2018 - the jury left with no doubt he was the person who attacked the 20-month-old girl in her bedroom.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The jurors returned their verdict in Newcastle Supreme Court on Friday morning, after retiring to deliberate on Tuesday afternoon.
The verdict means the jury rejected Whiteley's version of events, as well as claims from the defence that the child's mother - who cannot be identified - could have inflicted the fatal injuries at the Hunter home on June 19, 2018.
During the trial, the court heard the child suffered severe traumatic injuries, including broken ribs, lacerations to her liver, a collapsed lung, blood in her abdominal cavity and several injuries to her head - including bruising under her scalp.
Whiteley was in a relationship with the child's mother at the time.
The 28-year-old pleaded not guilty to murder earlier this month. There was no dispute during the trial that the girl died from non-accidental injuries.
The case was circumstantial, with no-one witnessing the fatal injuries being inflicted and no admissions of guilt. But the verdict means Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, moved the jury to the point of being beyond a reasonable doubt that Whiteley murdered the child.
In his closing address on Monday, Mr Carr said Whiteley had changed his version of events from what he had told the child's mother and his friend shortly after the tragedy.
Whiteley told them he had just left the girl's bedroom when he heard a thud and saw her on the floor, but he said in evidence during the trial he was 10 to 15 metres from the bedroom - in the kitchen - at the time.
Mr Carr said Whiteley had lied to the jury in order to "distance himself from the crime scene".
Public Defender Peter Krisenthal said during his closing submissions this week that the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Whiteley was the one who fatally wounded the toddler, instead saying it was an "entirely plausible scenario" that the child's mother had inflicted the injuries.
He criticised the evidence of the child's mother, saying there should be "very real concerns about her truthfulness, her reliability and her accuracy".
Whiteley will face a sentencing hearing on February 25.
For faster access to the latest Newcastle news download our NEWCASTLE HERALD APP and sign up for breaking news, sport and what's on sent directly to your email
IN THE NEWS:
