Vic man killed baby boy for revenge: trial

A Melbourne man killed his girlfriend's infant son because he suspected an affair between his lover and a drug dealer, a court has been told.

A Melbourne heroin addict repeatedly dropped his girlfriend's infant son because he thought she was sleeping with their drug dealer, a murder trial has heard.

Paul Ta-Vuong, 31, denies murdering 12-month-old Silas Leithhead, but says he accepts responsibility for the baby's death at Richmond in May last year.

Ta-Vuong says he loved the child like a father.

The Victorian Supreme Court has been told Silas died of blunt force trauma, and was found with bruises all over his body.

Prosecutor Andrew Grant said that while in custody, Ta-Vuong told two other prisoners that he decided to "play rough" with Silas because Ms Leithhead was taking too long to buy drugs.

Ta-Vuong told the prisoners he thought Ms Leithhead had been "f***ing around" with their drug dealer, and then showed them how he repeatedly dropped Silas, Mr Grant told the court on Friday.

"It is submitted that his description is a description of what happened," he said.

However, defence barrister Saul Holt SC said Ta-Vuong had slipped over in the bathroom of Ms Leithhead's flat and dropped Silas on his head.

"This was not an intentional, violent act," Mr Holt told the court.

"It was not an assault. It was not murder. It was an awful accident."

Mr Holt said Ta-Vuong, of Burwood, had become a father figure for Silas during the relationship with Ms Leithhead.

"Paul Ta-Vuong had established a genuine bond with him and was coming to act essentially in a parental role," he said.

Mr Holt said the two prisoners were not credible.

"They are liars and they are lying," he said.

The trial, before Justice Karin Emerton, is expected to run for two weeks.


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