A High Court judge has aborted the murder trial of a father who admitted fatally smothering his 5-year-old daughter with a pillow.

The trial began this week. A new trial date has not yet been set.

Jurors in the High Court at Auckland were told yesterday that Mukesh Prashad thought he had infected his daughter with herpes when he decided to kill her in January last year, believing it would save her the pain and isolation of living with the virus.

He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hours after the killing, Prashad drove to the Manukau Police Station and called 111 to let officers inside know that the body of his daughter, Tulsi Amola, was in the boot. He admitted to the killing during the 111 call and in a police interview hours later.

To be found not guilty by reason of insanity, a jury would have to determine he was so mentally ill at the time of the killing that he didn’t understand that what he was doing was wrong.

Mukesh Prashad appears in the High Court at Auckland, charged with murder. Photo / Michael Craig

After opening addresses yesterday, lawyers questioned just one witness: his wife.

Justice Pheroze Jagose’s reason for aborting the trial cannot be reported.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.