Steven Mark to adoption agency: Why did you send this demon child to me?

Through cross-examination of witnesses, the defense has worked to cast suspicion toward the girl's father, Steven Mark, according to The Tennessean.

A stay-at-home dad, Steven Mark was the girl's primary caregiver and has been charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse and four counts of child abuse. He was not in the courtroom Tuesday or Wednesday.

[Defense attorney] Lowery said that in his interview with detectives, Steven Mark admitted to punishing the girl by putting her in a box in the garage with the lights out and swinging her in the air to scare her.

Lowery said that in a June 30 phone call to the adoption agency, Steven Mark said: “Why did you send this demon child to me?’’

The Nashville director for Bethany Christian Services, which placed Kairissa with the Marks, said during testimony that a counselor emailed the Marks to set up a meeting but never got a response.

In the agency's first and only home visit, two weeks after the Marks brought Kairissa home, the family was bonding well, director Tammy Bass said.

Bass testified that Kairissa was a special needs child, having been listed as "mentally retarded" by the orphanage in China and having had two surgeries before adoption.