Defence lawyers for the man accused of killing his grandson in 2015 say the Crown was wrong when it said a recording of his prayer meant he was confessing to the crime.
Allan Perdomo Lopez is charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of his five-year-old grandson Emilio Perdomo.
The young boy died of blunt-force brain injury just five months after he arrived in Canada from Mexico.
During the proceedings, the court heard a recording of a prayer Perdomo Lopez recited in the family minivan.
"I wanted to help that child with all my soul, Lord. I didn't want to kill that child," the accused said, according to an English transcript of the tape.
Prosecutors told the court the prayer, one of 11 police recordings presented at trial, was an apology for killing the young boy.
Darren Mahoney, Perdomo Lopez's defence counsel, says the prayer was taken out of context and accused the Crown of 'cherry picking' elements of the recordings to fit the timeline.
"This isn't an apology for killing Emilio," he said. "This equally consistent with Mr. Perdomo apologizing for bringing the child from Mexico and the terrible consequences that resulted."
The lawyer also said the grandfather did not mean the word "kill" literally, as he uses the word in another intercept to describe being punished by his own father in the past.
The trial heard the boy was taken to hospital unconscious on the evening of July 9, 2015, and underwent emergency brain surgery. Emilio never woke up and died eight days later.
Prosecutor Shane Parker said in his closing arguments last week that the boy was brought to Canada for a better life, but instead was abused for weeks by his grandfather.
The trial is being heard by judge alone.
(With files from the Canadian Press)
