A coroner has been urged to reject a suggestion drowned schoolgirl Shukri Abdi was unlawfully killed.
Shukri, 12, died after going into the River Irwell in Bury during a heatwave in June 2019.
Three other children - who, for legal reasons, can only be referred to as Child One, Two and Three - were with at the time of her death.
On Wednesday (November 26), the inquest, at Rochdale Coroners' Court, was played a recording of a police interview with Child One, who was with Shukri in the river in the moments before she drowned.
In the interview Child One described how she 'pushed' Shukri away after she grabbed her legs.
Shukri, who couldn't swim, then drifted towards the deep part of the river where she got into difficulties and drowned.
Child One said: "I couldn’t swim like that. I could only swim if she let go. I pushed her and she went sideways.
"She just went down the deep end. She went in the water then just disappeared.
"If I hadn’t let go of her we both would have gone in the deep part and we both would have drowned.
"I had to save myself."
Ashley Underwood QC, representing Shukri's family, said the coroner should consider a conclusion of either gross negligence manslaughter or murder, because, he said, Child One had a 'duty of care' towards Shukri which had been breached.
But today (Thursday), Alison Hewitt, representing Child One, urged the coroner to dismiss those suggestions and described the approach in pursuing an unlawful killing conclusion as 'improper and wholly wrong'.
She said: "There is no evidence of unlawful killing. This is not a legally difficult case. It’s a straightforward case as far as the evidence is concerned."
Ms Hewitt said the police investigation was 'extremely thorough' and because of the 'rumours' surrounding the case went beyond the normal scope of such an inquiry.
She said Det Insp Naismith, the senior investigating officer, 'really hit the nail on the head when he said there is no evidence whatsoever of any criminality or wrongdoing'.
Ms Hewitt also questioned whether Child One had a duty of care to Shukri, saying: "There is no automatic duty of care when what is being dealt with are two schoolchildren playing together."
Shukri was born and raised in a Kenyan refugee camp to Somalian parents, before moving to the UK with her mother and four sibling.
The inquest has been adjourned until Friday, December 4, when the coroner Joanne Kearsley will deliver her concluision.
