A babysitter accused of breaking a baby's leg told Police she accidentally hurt him while changing his clothes.

Betty Jean Steede, 50, told detectives she knew 19-week-old La'Naiye Simmons was injured, but was too scared to tell his mother, the Supreme Court heard.

Jurors heard a tape recorded interview, during which she told detectives: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Steede denies causing grievous bodily harm to La'Naiye at her home in Swan's Bay Hill, Pembroke, on October 30, 2006.

Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney has told the jury Steede was reckless at the least in causing the spiral fracture to the infant's thigh bone.

The panel heard the child's mother, Laneh Simmons, give evidence on Monday that he was in good health when she left him at Steede's house. However, she said, she later got a call from the babysitter to say he would not stop crying.

When she went to pick him up, Steede suggested La'Naiye was suffering from colic. However, said Ms Simmons, when she examined the child she realised he had an injured leg. The baby spent three days in hospital as a result, and had to be put in a plaster cast.

Yesterday, the jury heard from Det. Insp. Steven Lightbourne. He said when Steede first arrived at Hamilton Police Station for an interview on November 28, 2006, she told one of his colleagues she did not injure La'Naiye.

She was subsequently arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

"She then started to cry and she told me she was sorry and that when she was changing his clothes she roughed him up. She told me that she had ripped off his onesie and at that time she realised something wasn't right with his leg," he told the court.

The detective said a tape recorded interview took place after this. During the playing of that tape in court yesterday, Steede was heard to tell Det. Insp. Lightbourne and Det. Con. Sharnita Tankard that La'Naiye fussed and cried after his mother left him. She then went to change him out of his all-in-one baby suit.

"I was taking off his clothes but I, you know, accidentally pulling his clothes hard, you know, tight. I couldn't even describe it. I was pulling his clothes and when I was pulling him, taking the outfit off and on, it was sort of a rush thing.

"And when I was taking the clothes off I noticed that his leg was coming with the all-in-one. And then I looked at it and I said 'Oh my God, don't say I've hurt this child, I pray I didn't' because he was crying so much," she said.

Steede demonstrated how the baby's leg bent with his foot still in the outfit. She admitted she knew he was hurt because he cried in pain.

"To me, within myself, it was an accident. It's been bothering me so much to tell you the truth," she told the officers.

She did not deny telling Det. Insp. Lightbourne prior to the recording that she "roughed up' the baby ¿ explaining she meant she was in a hurry as she changed him.

Asked why she did not tell Ms Simmons that La'Naiye had an injured leg, Steede replied: "I was scared. I was truly scared."

The jury also heard Steede tell the officers that although she was only licensed to look after three children at her home, she was caring for seven on the morning of the incident. She claimed she needed more than three to pay her mortgage and for her mother's care, and was in the process of requesting permission for this when the incident occurred.

The case continues.