Murder accused Karim Salahuddin took the stand yesterday to defend his role in the death of his infant daughter, Cassidy.

Salahuddin was the first witness called by the defence, which began its case yesterday afternoon. The young father is accused of murdering Cassidy, with medical experts testifying she died of shaken baby syndrome. She was six months old.

Yesterday, Salahuddin told the court he was a diabetic who managed his diabetes by diet, not insulin.

On May 5, 2003, he said he ate only once during the day at just after 10 a.m.

That evening he picked Cassidy up from the ACE Nursery. He took her for a drive in the car, and denied stopping at any friends? houses on the way.

He said he arrived home shortly after 5 p.m., parking his car at the top of a hill behind the house on Serpentine Road, Pembroke. He described the hill as made of gravel and sand, where rain washed the sand and rock from the top to the bottom. Jurors saw the hill on a recent visit to the house, Salahuddin?s lawyer John Perry QC said.

Salahuddin testified he bought food to eat that afternoon. But in between caring for his daughter and picking up his girlfriend?s sister, Charlotte, he did not eat it.

Cassidy was attempting to stand on a hard, plastic musical toy ball, he said, when the ball rolled forward and she bumped her eye. Salahuddin demonstrated how he picked her up and bounced her to comfort her. He then said he wiped her eye with a piece of toilet paper before placing her back on the floor with her toys ? minus the ball.

When he left to pick up Charlotte McHarg, he said he placed Cassidy in her pumpkin seat, fastening one strap. It was close to 6 p.m., and he said he still had not eaten since his 10 a.m. breakfast.

He walked up the hill to the car, carrying Cassidy in her seat in front of him with one hand at her head and one at her feet. Then, when he was about halfway up the hill, Salahuddin stated: ?I was a little bit dizzy. I lost my footing. I dropped the pumpkin seat and it rolled down the hill with Cassidy in it.?

The pumpkin seat was upside down at the bottom of the hill with Cassidy still strapped in as the young father rushed to her, he said. ?I remember she was hanging out.?

The infant was not crying, and did not respond when he called her name, he said.

?I took her out of the seat, I was brushing sand off her. I was shaking her a little bit to get a response.?

His daughter had no expression on her face, he said.

?I knew something was wrong. I was scared. She wasn?t reacting to anything. It was my intention to just get her to the hospital.?

He picked Charlotte McHarg up from Number One Shed first, he said, because it was on the way and ?because I wanted someone with me?.

Salahuddin said parts of his first statement to Police ? where he is recorded as stating he shook and hit his daughter ? were not his words. ?They kept saying I had shaken her, that I had beaten her ? my daughter.

?I kept telling them it wasn?t true. They kept saying I was lying.?

The statement was made around 11.30 p.m. on May 5, while Cassidy was in hospital. At that point, Salahuddin?s testimony showed he had not eaten in almost 14 hours.

He told the jury and Chief Justice Richard Ground that he loved his daughter, and had intended to eventually ask her mother to marry him.

He moved in with his girlfriend?s family before Cassidy was born in order to take an active role in his daughter?s life, he said. ?I didn?t want to be a part-time father, I wanted to watch her grow up. That?s the way I was brought up.

?I loved my daughter, I wouldn?t do anything to hurt her.?

The trial continues today before Mr. Justice Ground.