Cledir Barros maintains innocence during third child cruelty trial

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A Gwinnett County father testified for the third time in court Friday morning in connection to the death of his 8-year-old daughter. 

Cledir Barros has been tried two other times before. Both of those cases ended in a mistrial when the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict. Barros is charged with child cruelty in connection to the death of his eight-year-old daughter Sayra. 

"I've never seen any of my kids get injured from spanking ever," Cledir Barros said. 

Barros took the stand for about two and a half hours on Friday morning. His wife Natiela is accused of beating his daughter Sayra to death with a rolling pin back in January. Natiela was Sayra's stepmother. 

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Prosecutors say Barros didn't do enough to prevent Sayra's death, claiming he knew of prior incidents of abuse by Natiela, and pulled her out of school to be homeschooled by her anyway. 

"She's a child, so there must be something that she's not able to control. So, we're gonna pull her from school because we have no problem at home," Barros said. 

However, the defense says Barros didn't know of any abuse and was away from home for a majority of the week due to his job as a truck driver. 

READ MORE: Cledir Barros faces third child cruelty trial

Barros told jurors about why he told investigators he forgave Natiela after Sayra's death. 

"At the moment of this incident, I forgave her simply because the spirit of God led me to forgive her, not consented to what she did, which was terrible," Barros said. 

Closing arguments will begin first thing Monday morning.