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Nelson Hospital paediatrician Dr Nick Baker told a court that the injury was ‘‘non-accidental’’ and comparable to what a child might suffer if unrestrained in a car which rolled at high speed.

Swelling and bruising indicated that substantial force had been used, with multiple blows from different directions.

Jayden died soon after arriving in Auckland.

On the evening of June 6, a party was held at Jayden’s home in Washington Valley, Nelson. He lived there with his older infant sister Juanita, his mother, and her de facto partner, Aaron Dale Vercoe, then a 24-year-old fisherman from Mapua.

Perrin told a court that she went to bed after being sick from drinking a ‘‘blue shooter’’ that Vercoe had bought for her.

At one stage, after visitors had left, she said she woke to hear her son whimpering. She found him in the lounge with Vercoe bending over him, changing his nappy.

She said she took Jayden back to her bed and noticed a small bruise beside his right eye.

Perrin said she awoke again to her son’s whimpering, and noticed more injuries to his face and head.

‘‘He was covered in bruises and he had a swollen head,’’ she said.