A QUEENSLAND mum told police she repeatedly beat her daughter with a vacuum cleaner pipe in the weeks before the eight-year-old died.

The 28-year-old woman, is being sentenced in the Supreme Court in Cairns after earlier pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Prosecutor Roger Griffith told the court the woman admitted repeatedly beating her daughter with the pipe in the two weeks leading to her death.

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The girl was found dead in a unit in Cairns on November 2011. Her body was almost entirely covered in bruises, and doctors concluded she died from blood loss caused by blunt force trauma.

The court heard today that the mother beat the girl with end of the pole after she refused to wash the dishes.

She had also bashed the child after the girl asked if she could live with her father.

Following another beating, the woman made the girl sit in her room with the lights off so her partner couldn't see the bruises she'd inflicted.

``If he found out or seen what I done I'd be out of the house,'' the mother told police.

In the days leading up to her death, the girl complained of dizziness and needed help getting to the toilet.

Mr Griffith told the court the woman had told police she thought her daughter was exaggerating her symptoms.

On November 28, 2011, the woman called an ambulance after finding the girl unresponsive in bed.

The woman's husband, 24, who has also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, is also being sentenced on Tuesday.

Mr Griffith said the man stopped the mother from abusing the girl on a number of occasions. However, he admitted he could have done more.

``I could have done something,'' he said during an interview with police.

``The floggings have been going on for weeks. I've been trying to stop her. They mainly happen when I'm at work.''

The pair can't be named for legal reasons.

The sentencing hearing continues.