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NSW man blames wife for child's gun death

A gun owner charged over the death of his three-year-old daughter, who was shot in her Sydney home, has told a judge his wife pulled the trigger and killed the girl.

The man, who unsuccessfully applied for bail in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, sobbed as he said he was seeking justice for his daughter, telling the judge he was not allowed to attend her funeral and had not visited her grave.

The father, who can't be named for legal reasons, is charged with manslaughter by criminal negligence, possessing an unregistered sawn-off shotgun and not storing the weapon safely and other offences relating to the girl's death in August 2017.

He represented himself, applying for bail via audio-visual-link from the jail where he is on remand.

He told Justice Richard Button he had obtained the shotgun and "took responsibility for placing it under a heavy mattress that the children could not access".

But he said it was not loaded when he left it there.

The man, who was outside the house when the girl was shot, said the only adult in the house was his wife.

"It must have been my wife who pulled the trigger and killed my daughter," he said.

The scientific and other evidence led to the only conclusion "that this is pre-meditated murder, more than accidental", he said.

His wife lied when she said he left the loaded weapon behind the door, he said.

The father sobbed as he told the judge: "My innocent daughter was the victim, dead by the hand of my wife."

The Crown alleges the man stored the loaded gun in the house unsafely and it accidentally discharged, killing the girl.

In refusing bail, Justice Button said while there were "odd" aspects to the Crown case, it could not be said to be overwhelming weak, nor overwhelmingly strong.

He said the man, who told the judge he would be representing himself at his trial, was clearly intelligent and eloquent and he expected he would be able to prepare his case in jail.