The man accused of murdering NSW toddler Tanilla Warrick-Deaves claims the bruises found on her body were from falls and from tripping over.
Warren Ross, the boyfriend of Tanilla's mother, told police in 2011 the toddler had fallen off a trampoline, probably fallen off a cupboard and onto a bed, and that the large bruise on her head was the result of tripping on a protruding floorboard in her Central Coast home, a court has heard.
Ross, who has pleaded not guilty to Tanilla's murder, is accused of abusing her in the weeks leading to her death.
The crown alleges Tanilla lay in a pram injured for almost two days until an ambulance was called.
The Supreme Court heard Ross had been in a five-month relationship with Tanilla's mother, Donna Deaves, and lived in her Watanobbi home in August 2011.
Deaves has been sentenced over the incident and is expected to give evidence during the trial.
In a police interview following Tanilla's death, which was played to the jury on Tuesday, Ross denied inflicting the toddler's injuries.
"No, no way," he said.
Ross said the only thing he ever did was push Tanilla's head up to tell her to look at him.
He said when Tanilla had misbehaved, Deaves would sometimes make her do laps of the hallway.
But he denied Deaves was abusive.
When a police officer asked about a large bruise he saw on Tanilla's head in hospital, Ross said she might have tripped on a protruding floorboard.
Ross admitted he found marks - which became "blacker and blacker" before her death - but said she must have fallen onto a bed in the house.
He also said Tanilla fell off a trampoline in the week before her death and had bruises on her legs.
On the day Tanilla was found not breathing, Ross said he woke up to Deaves screaming and performed CPR on Tanilla on the lounge room floor.
"All I kept thinking was I was blowing (air) in my dead baby's mouth," Ross told police.
Tanilla died in Wyong Hospital two days later.
The Crown alleges Ross abused Tanilla while trying to toilet train her, forcing her to run laps, whipping her with various implements and hitting her.
The trial continues.
