An Adelaide father has admitted to trying to kill his three-year-old daughter two years ago.
Shaun Preston Mate had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his then-three-year-old daughter in July 2020 after police found her and Mate unresponsive and suffering from hypoxia at their Eden Hills home.
The 45-year-old was due to stand trial last month but days before his lawyer told the court a "psychological breakdown" may have caused his behaviour and it was her "duty" to consider whether there could be an issue of mental incompetence at play.
But today in the Supreme Court, Mate pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
The court has previously heard Mate's marriage was "falling apart" in the lead up to the attempted murder and he had become verbally and physically abusive.
It also heard Mate wrote notes to his then-wife and younger daughter that stated his intention to kill.
"[Our daughter] and I will live together forever, and you can consider what life is worth," the court previously heard one of the notes read.
The court also previously heard Mate eventually had a "change of mind" and decided he could not take his daughter's life.
Prosecutors previously told the court that it was "sheer good luck" that the accused's then-wife woke up in the middle of the night from a headache and discovered her daughter was missing from her bed before she called police.
Mate has been remanded in custody to face court again in May.
