Teenager 'beat toddler to death'

Demi Mahon died from head injuries

A 15-year-old boy beat a toddler causing fatal injuries while babysitting, a court has been told.

Demi Mahon, two, was found with 68 injuries, including a bite, at a home in Eccles, Salford, last July. She died at Hope Hospital.

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, denies murder. The defence will say he suffered an abnormality of mind which impaired his responsibility.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Demi was left with the boy for 90 minutes.

The toddler's mother, Ann Marie McDonald, told the jury she popped out to pick up her child benefit and buy a birthday card.

She said that when she returned the boy was standing outside the house with a man.

Her face was bruised - I tried to pick her up and her head flopped back, she couldn't breathe properly Ann Marie McDonald, mother of Demi Mahon

Ms McDonald said the defendant told her: "I picked her up - I might have hurt her - and she fell in the park."

She said she rushed into the house and found her daughter in bed with the bedclothes partially covering her face.

"Her face was bruised. I tried to pick her up and her head flopped back. She couldn't breathe properly," she said.

"I screamed, 'Why haven't you rung an ambulance?'. He said, 'I never done nothing, I've not done nothing'."

Ms McDonald, who is known as Sindy, pointed at the defendant and said: "He did that to my daughter."

'Punched repeatedly'

Prosecutor Howard Bentham QC said Demi's mother described her daughter's face as bruised and soggy.

"When her small body was examined by Dr Naomi Carter, pathologist, Dr Carter found 68 sites of injury on that small body.

"We say every one of those injuries were caused by this young man.

"They were all over her body, but many of them were to her head and face and Dr Carter drew the conclusion that young Demi had probably been punched repeatedly in the face," he said.

He said the defendant lied about what he had done and claimed Demi banged her head against a radiator and also against an ashtray.

The trial continues.