The jury has retired in a trial in which the Crown says a man shook or slammed a 17-month-old toddler but the defence accuses the girl's mother of being "a liar motivated by self-preservation".
The Christchurch District Court retired at 1.15pm, after the summing up by Judge Brian Callaghan on the seventh day of the trial, Christchurch Court News website reported.
Defence counsel Richard McGuire called only an expert witness as the defence case.
In his closing address to the jury he attacked the credibility of the toddler's mother, saying she was a liar motivated by self preservation, and the police had come to the wrong conclusion.
The partner of the child's mother denied a charge of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to the toddler, and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard for the girl's safety.
The names of the man, the child, her mother, and grandmother have all been suppressed.
The Crown alleged the man had either shaken the toddler or shaken and slammed her onto a soft surface.
Mr McGuire said it was the mother of the child who was stressed, changed her statements, lied on oath at previous trials, and had no credibility at all.
Her statements changed as she was put under extreme pressure by the police while at the bedside of her child in Starship Hospital in Auckland, he said.
On the day of the alleged incident, which later led to the child being admitted to Christchurch Hospital after being found on the floor in a bedroom, the man was happy, had his own daughter with him who was following him everywhere, and was motivated and constructive.
When giving statements to the police he was co-operative, friendly and consistent, Mr McGuire said.
He told the jury they had to be sure beyond reasonable doubt that it was the partner and not the mother who might have been responsible, and sure that it had not been an accident.