ITN NEWS -- A teenage babysitter beat a two-year-old girl to death while her mother was out shopping, a court has been told.

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The 15-year-old boy - who is not a relation but cannot be named for legal reasons - inflicted 68 injuries on Demi Leigh Mahon in 90 minutes on July 15, 2008, a jury at Manchester Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Howard Bentham QC said doctors believed the child was punched repeatedly in the face before she died. Paramedics who went to her aid said she showed signs of having suffered brain damage as a result of being attacked.

Demi Leigh's mother, Ann Marie McDonald, told the jury she left her daughter while she popped out to pick up her child benefit at around 2.30pm.

She said about 90 minutes later when she returned he was standing outside the house in Eccles, Salford, and told her: "I picked her up - I might have hurt her - and she fell in the park."

Ms McDonald, known as Sindy, broke down in tears when she told the jury how she rushed into the house to find her daughter lying in bed.

She said: "Her face was bruised. I tried to pick her up and her head flopped back. She couldn't breathe properly. I screamed 'Why haven't you rung an ambulance?' He said 'I never done nothing, I've not done nothing'."

The boy had looked after the child before, the jury of six men and six women heard.

Ann Dodsworth told jurors she saw the defendant walking down the road holding Demi's hand on July 15 and the child looked "okay".

Paramedic Steven Blears said, in evidence read to the court, that when he arrived at the house Demi was lying on the floor and breathing infrequently. He said Demi's arms moved involuntarily towards her chest signifying brain damage had occurred.

Mr Blears said the defendant sat cross-legged in the doorway and told him, when asked, that Demi had fallen in the park, but refused to answer his questions.

Mr Blears said: "He said 'I didn't hit her, I didn't batter her'. The female (Ms McDonald) was in a rage and said 'I should never have left her with you'."

He said the defendant then admitted he might have grabbed her "too hard" at the back of the neck while picking her up.

Mr Blears said Demi had swelling to the back of the head, a bruised forehead, a ring of blood round her lips and a graze on her neck. He also said Demi's injuries were inconsistent with the defendant's description of how she sustained them.

PC Louise Warhurst said, in evidence read out, that shortly after arriving at the house Ms McDonald shouted at the defendant "you hit her" and lunged at him.

She said: "She kept saying 'he has done it' and pointing at him."

PC Warhurst said the defendant told her Demi was bouncing up and down on the bed and fell off twice, first hitting her head on a glass ashtray and then on the bed's headboard, after which she appeared to go to sleep.

Mr Bentham said the defendant inflicted 68 injuries and a bite mark on the child.

He said: "We say every one of those injuries were caused by this young man. They were all over her body but many of them were to her head and face and Dr Carter drew the conclusion that young Demi had probably been punched repeatedly in the face."

Mr Bentham said the defence will argue their client suffered an abnormality of mind which impaired his responsibility.