A man has been convicted of murdering a toddler and going outside for a 'cigarette' while she was most likely left dying and "gasping for air", a judge has said.

Brit Robert Leeming, 37, admitted second-degree murder of ex-girlfriend Jasmine Lovett in October 2021, but not to the death of her 22-month-old daughter Aliyah Sanderson.

But on Monday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Keith Yamauchi said that the man had lied in his testimony, and found him guilty of the same murder charge at their home in Canada.

He told the court: “Mr. Leeming is not a believable witness.

“This court does not believe his explanation of how Aliyah died.

“It does not believe his evidence.

“Her injuries were not accidental.

“He meant to cause Aliyah’s death or meant to cause bodily harm to Aliyah that was likely to cause her death.

“Why would he not use his best efforts to find Aliyah help? Instead he went downstairs for a cigarette.

“This court does not know with any precision the exact time Mr. Leeming assaulted Aliyah; however, it has found beyond a reasonable doubt he did.”

Originally, the man claimed that Aliyah, who he had picked up from daycare, had died after accidentally “falling down stairs” at home in April 2019.

He claimed to have heard a “thump” and found the girl at the bottom.

However, medical examiners found three distinct head injuries, which would have led to her having a seizure and being left “gasping for air”.

He also claimed that the girl's mother found her, unresponsive in a crib, but it later emerged that he attacked the mother with a hammer and shot her after she accused him of killing the girl.

It was described as a "murderous rampage", although details of what happened to the girl have not been made public.

He was found to have lied 21 times.

Leeming was believed to have told police at the time: “Someone tried to expose who I am and it ended badly."

The man will be sentenced at a later date in February. Leeming will face an automatic life sentence for the killings with parole eligibility of between 10 and 25 years for each murder charge.

The girl's grandmother, Kim Blankert said, after the trial: “I wanted to get up and hug the judge but I know that would have looked super weird.

“Obviously happy is not the best word. but (we’re) pleased that we got justice and relieved that it’s over.

“We can just go back to healing and just getting on with our lives.”

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