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Father of 8-year-old beaten to death: 'I'm innocent'
Cledir Barros is charged with cruelty to children and second-degree murder. His wife is accused of the actual beating death of his 8-year-old daughter, but he was in a Gwinnett County courtroom on Thursday defending himself on the stand.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - UPDATE: It appears that Cledir Barros has made a deal with the district attorney's office and will only be charged with cruelty to children. This is a developing story. Check back later for more information.
ORIGINAL STORY
A father accused of his daughter’s death took the witness stand in his trial on Thursday. Cledir Barros is charged with cruelty to children and second-degree murder after police accused his wife of beating 8-year-old Sayra Barros to death. Prosecutors say the father did not do enough to protect his daughter.
Cledir Barros insisted he is not guilty. "We have no reason to hide anything from the police. I’ve never been in trouble with the police," Barros testified. "I said I’m going to go before you guys and state that I’m innocent."
The Gwinnett County father is on trial after police accused his wife of killing his daughter Sayra Barros. Prosecutors say Natiela Barros beat her stepdaughter with a wooden rolling pin last January. They say Cledir Barros knew his wife was abusive but left the 8-year-old girl with her anyway.
While on the witness stand on Thursday, Barros insisted that he was unaware of previous instances of violence. "We don’t abuse our kids," Barros said. "Never abused the kids in my presence."
His testimony, at times, grew contentious. "Jurors, if you let me address you after this—this whole plan of being..." he said, with the judge cutting him off.
"You are not to address the jurors directly, please respond to the question," Judge Karen Beyers instructed him.
"Mr. Barros, it is time for you to respond to the question and not to do an open-ended dialogue," the judge added.
SEE ALSO: DFCS stands by firing of supervisor over Gwinnett rolling pin beating case
Prosecutors played 911 audio of the chilling moments surrounding the little girl’s death.
"What’s the emergency?" The dispatcher asked.
"My daughter just passed out, she’s not reacting," Barros said.
"Is she breathing?" The dispatcher asked.
"No," Barros replied.
Barros said his wife was not in her normal state of mind. "It got to the point where the stress got too much, and she got to that point," he said. "What she did was abuse, what she ended up doing was abuse."
Natiela Barros (Gwinnett County Police Department)
Natiela Barros, accused of committing the murder, is set to testify in her husband’s defense against her lawyer's advice.