A young mother broke down in tears yesterday as she testified at the trial of her former lover ? accused of murdering their six-month-old baby.

Mother Amy McHarg said her six-month-old daughter, Cassidy, was a happy and healthy baby when she left her in the care of her father on May 5, 2003.

But later that night the baby was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital with severe internal injuries, which she died from early the next morning.

Ms McHarg?s emotional testimony came as the Supreme Court trial of Karim Shaheed Salahuddin, 25, of Serpentine Road, Pembroke, opened before a six-woman, six-man jury.

Salahuddin is charged with murdering Cassidy Ann Salahuddin.

Cassidy died as a result of shaken baby syndrome, Crown prosecutor Kulandra Ratneser said as he opened the trial.

Salahuddin has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is represented by Queen?s Counsel John Perry and defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher.

Ms McHarg, 21, told the court she met Salahuddin in 2000 and developed an intimate relationship with him in April 2001.

During questioning by Mr. Ratneser, Ms McHarg said she was happy when she discovered she was pregnant, but the defendant was scared when she told him the news.

?He was scared, we were so young and he wasn?t used to the idea that we were going to be parents,? said Ms McHarg.

But, she added that Salahuddin began living with her at her Serpentine Road residence a week before Cassidy was born because he didn?t want to be a part-time father.

In tears she told the court: ?He said didn?t want to be a part-time father, he wanted to be there for her. He said he didn?t want to miss anything in his daughter?s life.

?He took the first couple of days off when I came home from the hospital. He took care of her and I breast fed her. When he came home from work he would go straight to the bedroom and get Cassidy.?

On the day the baby was injured, Ms McHarg said she left Cassidy Ann with Salahuddin while she took an evening exam at the Bermuda College.

She said Salahuddin picked up the baby that afternoon from her job at the ACE nursery and took her home with him.

Ms McHarg said Cassidy was a happy, healthy baby that afternoon and did not have any visible injuries.

Later that night, after receiving news of her daughter?s condition, Ms McHarg said she rushed to the hospital and found Cassidy Ann laying on a bed with Salahuddin seated next to her.

Her baby did not appear to be breathing. ?I asked him what happened and he said he fell,? she said. Cassidy died early that morning.

During cross examination by Queen?s Counsel John Perry, Ms McHarg admitted that Salahuddin had always been a dedicated and loving father.

The court also heard from the baby?s maternal grandmother, Donna Cassidy, yesterday who said she had prepared the child to spend the evening with her father.

?I just finished changing her diaper, I put her hair in little pigtails and I handed her to him,? said Mrs. Cassidy.

But later that evening, Mrs. Cassidy rushed to the hospital with her daughter where she immediately questioned Salahuddin about what had happened.

She said Salahuddin told her he was holding the baby in a pumpkin seat ? a type of baby carrier ? when he tripped. The seat did not stop the baby from falling out because the handle was down.

But in opening the Crown case, Mr. Ratneser told the court that Salahuddin initially told Police that when he cared for the baby on the evening of May 5, Cassidy was fussy and whiney. He gave her a bottle to calm her down and her toys to play with.

When she wouldn?t stop crying, he stated that he picked her up and shook her in an attempt to get her to stop crying and then put her down on the floor, slapping her on the left side of her face.

Salahuddin later changed his story, Mr. Ratneser said. He said that was a ?fake? story he had made up. He then told Police that he was carrying Cassidy in her pumpkin seat when the handle had come down and the baby fell out as he tried to break his fall. Ms McHarg?s sisters Charlotte McHarg and Sarah Fox also gave evidence yesterday.

Charlotte McHarg told the court Salahuddin picked her up from Hamilton that evening with Cassidy in the back seat. She said Salahuddin told her: ?I don?t know what?s wrong with Cassidy, she?s not moving.?

Ms McHarg said she noticed her niece?s forehead was purplish blue, she had blood coming out of her mouth and a purple-coloured vein was protruding from her temple.

She held the baby?s head in her hands as they rushed to the hospital, she said.

Sarah Fox told the court of going to the hospital to see Cassidy when she received the news. She said she saw Cassidy lying on her bed covered in a blanket with tubes helping her to breathe.

Salahuddin told her the baby was injured in a fall while he was carrying her in the pumpkin seat.

Later Emergency Room clerk Marion Linton told the court Salahuddin ? whom she knew by the name of ?Kevin? ? brought the baby to the hospital on the night of May 5.

She noticed Cassidy had a bruised eye and foam coming out of her mouth, she said.

Although family members of Ms McHarg described Salahuddin as being emotionless, Mrs. Linton said he was crying in one of the hospital bathrooms.

Jennifer Lynch, an ER nurse who worked with doctors to revive Cassidy using CPR testified yesterday that the baby had pink foam coming out of her mouth.

Mr. Perry asked Ms Lynch if the CPR given was vigorous, to which she responded that it was intense but not vigorous.

?It?s a fact, is it not, that during resuscitation protocol internal injuries sometimes occur?? asked Mr. Perry.

Ms Lynch admitted it does occur but more often in the case of adults and than in children.

The trial continues on Thursday before Chief Justice Richard Ground. The court is expected to hear from Dr. Randolph Alexander, an American expert on shaken baby syndrome.