A mother accused of starving her baby daughter to death yesterday told a Bermuda Supreme Court jury she did not see anything wrong with the child until two days before her death.

Maatkai Hatsheput Tamerry, 36, and her husband, Dr. Amenemhat Waset Amen-Ra Tamerry, 48, deny unlawfully killing their ten-month-old daughter, A'Maya.

The baby's father has elected not to testify in the trial but yesterday the mother said that on the night of February 27, 2001 - two days before her daughter died of a host of illnesses - she noticed only that the child had diarrhoea.

She said she did not notice anything wrong with the baby's eyes or that she had a rash on her vulva until the morning of February 28.

A'Maya's mother said her child had appeared healthy and accused forensic pathologist Dr. John Obafunwa - who testified earlier in the trial - of tailoring his evidence on the child's ailments to suit the Police.

A'Maya died around 8 a.m. on March 1, 2001.

The high drama and emotion which has characterised the trial of her parents to date continued yesterday when A'Maya's aunt, Renee Pearman, almost fainted in the witness box after being shown autopsy photos of the child.

She was caught by defence lawyer Mark Pettingill before falling down the steps leading up to the witness box.

Similar photos shown earlier in the trial led A'Maya's mother to ask to be allowed to leave the court during testimony from Dr. Obafunwa.

The mother later fell ill and the trial had to be adjourned for several days while she was treated.

Dr. Obafunwa testified earlier that on autopsy he found that A'Maya had a rash of her vulva, caused from a yeast infection which would have been noticeable days to weeks before her death.

The jury also heard testimony from eye specialists that A'Maya had gone blind and had Keratomalacia (melting of the cornea) as well as bacteria and ulcers in her eyes, which would have been apparent three days before her death.

Yesterday, A'Maya's mother said she only noticed a rash on the baby's vulva the day before her death and that the child's eyes had only been puffy.

The morning before her death A'Maya woke up late, her mother said: “When she got up I held her all day. She didn't want to get on my breast.”

She said she fed A'Maya cantaloupe, watermelon, sea moss and water that day.

She admitted that alarm bells were going off in her head and that she thought about calling a doctor.

But she said she did not because she felt the baby was only having teething problems.

The court heard earlier that A'Maya began teething in the middle of February and was showing signs of discomfort.

The mother admitted A'Maya lost weight around that time which she also attributed to teething problems which meant the baby was eating less.

She said she was alone with A'Maya the day before she died but when her husband returned in the evening he asked: “What is wrong with her eyes?”

Later that evening, A'Maya began breathing “funny” and the Tamerrys called the hospital.

“She collapsed in my arms,” A'Maya's mother said yesterday, sobbing in the witness box.

Just days earlier, however, the defendant claimed the child had seemed fine.

She said took A'Maya's temperature on February 25 and saw no signs of a fever.

Both A'Maya's aunt Renee Pearman and her grandmother, Sandra Woods, also told the court yesterday they saw the baby on February 25 when she appeared healthy.

Another aunt, the father's sister Carla Whitehurst, said she saw A'Maya at the end of January and at the beginning of February and on both occasions the baby seemed fine.

She said if the child had looked unwell she would have voiced her concerns.

Ms Pearman, the mother's sister, said when she saw A'Maya four days before her death she appeared normal but was a bit fussy because she was teething.

“She wasn't jumping as much as she normally does and she had lost a little bit of weight but I thought that was due to teething,” she said, adding that she was “totally shocked” when A'Maya died.

Ms Woods said she saw A'Maya every Sunday and that nothing had caused her concern about the baby, although she admitted she was a small child.

“My children are small,” Ms Woods said.

She said, when she saw A'Maya on February 25, the baby was fine but a bit fussy.

She said she changed her diaper on that day and that her stool and urine had appeared normal.

She also saw A'Maya unclothed that day.

“(She) didn't look malnutritioned to me,” Ms Woods said.

The jury is expected to hear closing arguments in the case today.

While the jury heard earlier in the trial that a doctor was told that both A'Maya and her mother had fallen ill on a family vacation to England, 12 days before her death, yesterday the mother denied this.

She said she did not notice anything wrong with A'Maya at that time.

On cross examination by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser, the mother said A'Maya did not look the way she did in the autopsy pictures.

She claimed the baby was neither ill nor malnourished.

“If she was sick I would have taken her to the hospital,” the mother said.

When questioned on the forensic evidence, she said Dr. Obafunwa had “put together a package to suit Sgt. Barry Richards and all Police”.

“Dr. Obafunwa noticed something wrong with A'Maya that was not noticeable to my eyes,” she said.

She denied that the child had been sick for weeks or months but she admitted that she wished she had taken her to the doctor earlier.

When Mr. Ratneser questioned A'Maya's weight the mother said: “A lot of kids are small - she was never sick so, no, that did not concern me.”