A judge has reserved his verdict indefinitely in the trial of a man accused of murdering and sexually assaulting a 10-month-old baby in Western Australia.
Mervyn Kenneth Douglas Bell, 27, is accused of abusing the child for about 15 hours in March last year, including inflicting third-degree burns, broken bones and bruises on the boy.
Bell has been on trial in the WA Supreme Court for two-and-a-half weeks.
He claims the child's injuries were caused when he fell out of a moving car travelling at about 60km/h, when the boy sat on hot rocks by a river, and when he fell into the water.
Justice John McKechnie has been presiding over the trial without a jury and has combed through forensic evidence including graphic images of the dead baby.
During the trial, the court heard the cause of death could not be ascertained, but the baby had suffered a broken arm and leg, third-degree burns on parts of his body, and severe bruising on his genitals and anus.
Bell testified that he did not recall the baby having any injuries before he took him from Broome but denied hurting the child.
"I never would have harmed that child," he said.
"I was looking after him."
Bell also testified that he and the baby's mother argued on the evening before the boy died.
He said he might have punched her, but did not kick or knee her and did not try to run her over with his car.
In her closing address, prosecutor Amanda Forrester said Bell had been an "utterly unconvincing" witness with a version of events that were "highly improbable".
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