The mother and stepfather of a three-year-old girl – killed by a blow to the head by a whip along with 46 injuries all over her body – are on trial in Argentina.

Nahiara Soledad Miranda was killed in the town of Los Menucos in the Argentine province of Rio Negro in April 2020.

She reportedly suffered a hard blow with a ‘rebenque’, a type of whip used by horsemen in South America, that split her head and killed her three days later.

According to the news site Debate, 46 injuries were found on the three-year-old girl during an autopsy, including five broken ribs and third-degree burns on her legs and buttocks.

After the mother and stepfather were arrested for the girl’s death, the woman, named as Valeria Miranda, reportedly blamed her partner.

Valeria is quoted as saying: “He always threatened to kill my daughter, and he ended up doing it.”

She also accused her partner and co-defendant, named as Carlos Ruben Erbin, of domestic abuse, claiming: “He always hit me and my child.”

The young girl died of the head blow three days after it was inflicted. Her stepfather claims that she suffered the injury when she fell from a ladder.

However, Valeria said: “I know that is not true, I was in the kitchen, I felt the blow, and my daughter was on the ground.

“He was next to her with the whip in his hand, and he told me to lie to the police.”

Although there were no other witnesses to the head blow, the injuries found on the victim during the autopsy were considered irrefutable proof of the abuse the girl was suffering and the authorities ruled out accidental death during the investigation, according to Debate.

During the trial, Erbin said: “I did not kill her, but I cannot be sure that it was not Valeria.”

The stepfather claimed that his partner was “very uncaring” and “cold” with the child.

The case continues.