Man 'beats 3-year-old girl to death over incorrect maths answers'

'I killed my child. I killed my child,' Joshua Salovich reportedly said

Joshua Salovich enters the municipal courtroom for his preliminary hearing in the death of three-year-old Bailey Salovich (Whitney Downard/The Meridian Star via the AP)

A Mississippi man charged with beating a three-year-old girl to death over a maths lesson told police it was “all his fault," officers have testified.

The man, 25-year-old Joshua Salovich, told police he was teaching the girl “her numbers,” and struck her every time she answered incorrectly, Meridian Police Detective Kevin Boyd said.

"She apparently did not want to participate and get the correct numbers," Mr Boyd testified on Monday. "He said he would pop her with his hands on her butt and legs when she got a wrong answer... [He said he] backhanded her several times in the stomach because she kept getting it wrong."

Mr Salovich allegedly told police he beat the child with his hands, a charging cord, and a bamboo rod. Asked how hard he hit the child on a 1-10 scale, Mr Body testified, the man “said, '10,' with no hesitation”.

Police said Mr Salovich confessed to disciplining the girl in this way several times a week, according to the Meridian Star.

"He did state that on that day, the child was giving an unusual amount of incorrect answers," Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose said.

The toddler, Bailey Salovich, was taken to the hospital on Friday for her injuries. Police said she arrived with marks on her buttocks and legs, as well as swelling in her abdomen and bleeding in her brain. She died on Saturday from her injuries.

Mr Salovich reportedly became agitated after learning of the girl’s death, saying: “I killed my child. I killed my child”. Police said it was unclear whether he was the girl’s biological father.

Bailey's mother reportedly cried throughout the hearing, and collapsed after it was resolved.

The court charged Mr Salovich with capital murder, meaning he could face the death penalty. They also denied him bail.