An Adelaide mother put her nine-month-old baby into an aquarium filled with water to try to stop the infant crying, a South Australian Court has been told.
The 22-year-old woman, who cannot be named, has gone on trial in the District Court after pleading not guilty to a charge of aggravated endangering of life in May last year.
In evidence yesterday her former partner and the baby's father said on the night in question the baby had been crying and the woman had not been able to make her stop.
He said he saw his partner walk past their bedroom and then saw her walk back without the child.
"Five to 10 seconds later I heard coughing, spluttering, splashing and screaming," he said.
"I saw (the baby) face up on her back in the tank splashing, screaming, panicking."
Cross-examined by the mother's lawyer, Robert Kane, the father said he did not call an ambulance despite being worried the baby might have suffered from hypothermia.
He also denied that he was so frustrated after an argument with the woman that he had made a false report about his partner putting the baby in the aquarium.
In evidence today a police officer told the court that when he arrived at the northern suburbs home the man was holding the baby and appeared upset.
The court also heard that a sopping wet baby's jumpsuit was found on the floor in the bathroom of the house shortly after police patrols arrived.
The trial was continuing before a jury of nine men and three women.
