A Melbourne man accused of killing his girlfriend's one-year-old son told police he dropped the baby after slipping on a towel.
Paul Ta-Vuong, 30, of Burwood, has been charged with murdering Silas Leithhead in Richmond on May 15.
At Ta-Vuong's committal hearing on Tuesday, Constable Anthony Gaffney said, when he arrived at the Richmond apartment last May, Ta-Vuong was packing a bag and appeared drug-affected.
When Const Gaffney went into the bedroom where Ta-Vuong was packing, he told him what had happened.
"He said `Before I put him to bed, I bent over to pick up a towel. I tripped over a towel and he hit his head'," Const Gaffney said in his statement.
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Const Gaffney also asked Ta-Vuong if he was drug affected after he found Unisom tablets - a drug known as a heroin substitute - in the Richmond apartment, the court heard.
As Ta-Vuong was giving his account of what had happened, he appeared drowsy and had slurred speech, Const Gaffney said.
After giving his account to Const Gaffney at the apartment last May, Ta-Vuong re-enacted what had happened, showing how he had reached to pick up a towel from the bathroom floor with Silas in his arms.
"The way he fell, it was as if he fell directly where Silas would have been," Const Gaffney said.
The hearing continues.
