A man has been charged with murder over the death of a 5-month-old girl in Invercargill. 

Hope Elizabeth McFall-Schultz died in January after being sent to Starship Hospital in a critical condition. A decision was made to turn off her life support days later. 

Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy said a 24-year-old man has been charged with murder and is due to appear in the Nelson District Court this afternoon. 

"I would like to thank the Invercargill community and Hope's family for their assistance and patience during this investigation." 

Five-month-old Hope spent the first months of her life in the neonatal unit at Dunedin Hospital after she was born at 27 weeks, on August 25 last year. 

"She [Hope] was a wee angel," her grandmother, Sharon Schultz, told the Otago Daily Times.