A father is asking for the public to forgive his partner who rolled over and smothered their eight-month old daughter.

It’s hard not to feel a deep sadness over the death of a child – even one you only read about – but when you hear of the death of a child at the hands of a parent the sadness turns to anger.

But this dad is asking you not to feel anger; in fact he is asking you to forgive his partner, to pray for her and reminds us that “… no one is in more pain than me except probably her.”

The father, Marco Mejia from New Jersey in the US has written the emotional Facebook plea just days after the death of their eight-month-old baby girl, allegedly at the hands of her mother, Lisa Marie Scalia.

His post calls says that Lisa Marie made a “mistake” the “biggest mistake anyone can make” when she rolled on their daughter and smothered her, while allegedly high on drugs.

He writes:

Please everyone remember that Lisa Marie loved Olaia Marie … she definitely made the biggest mistake anyone can make but I refuse to believe she did this horrible act on purpose… no one is in more pain than me except probably her… if I can forgive her I know everyone can forgive her… Please pray for her as well.. Thank you everyone for all the love.”

Their eight-month-old daughter, Olaia died in hospital just four days ago.

As Marco Mejia sat by his daughter’s bedside in hospital he posted messages of heartache to his Facebook account.

Not only was he struggling with coming to terms with his daughter dying in hospital, he was also struggling with the knowledge that it was his partner who was under arrest for putting her there.

The torment began when paramedics in New Jersey responded to a call about an unresponsive baby on January 3.

NJ.com reports that police believe Olaia’s mother, Lisa Marie was high on heroin when she rolled over and smothered her daughter.

Police say that they found 34 bags of heroin and 10 oxycodone pills in the house Lisa Marie was staying.

A medical team revived Olaia at the scene before they transferred her to the hospital.

There for several days Marco Mejia sat by the side of the little girl he called “the love of his life”.

His emotional messages pleaded for friends to pray for his daughter.

“Everyone one please keep praying for my little baby girl,” he wrote. “She is in bad shape! But I know she is a fighter because she’s a mejia… and if we all pray together we can give her the strength to survive this.”

But it soon became clear she was not going to make it.

“First off I want to thank everyone for all the love n support… I now [sic] have to give u the bad news that these will be my daughters last days… I would like to spend them with my daughter alone so if u were planning on visiting please dont… allow me the time to say bye to my little princess… Thanks for understanding n god bless”

As he held his daughter knowing it was only a matter of time before she was taken from him Marco dealt with the fallout from his partner’s arrest.

“Please everyone who is cursing out, using vile words towards Lisa Marie , I ask you to please stop.. believe me I am the one who is the angriest towards her and I don’t ever want to see her face but I know with time I have to forgive her to move on…. so please stop spreading hate using Olaia Marie as the catalyst…. my baby needs to be sent up to god with love … so lets all put our energy into loving Olaia these last days because I know she will feel it.. please plesae [sic] stop the hate on Facebook its infantile… we need to unite in love… Lisa Marie will answer to GOD!”

Marco Mejia’s Facebook post has had a mixed reaction on social media. Some are saying that they don’t believe Lisa Marie should be forgiven, that she chose to take drugs and her actions caused the death of her daughter. Others are more compassionate.

“She is the one that will have to live with herself from now until the day she dies. She will wake up every morning knowing what she did. I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for him, but most of all I feel sorry for that little angel.”

Scalia, 31, remains in jail on $100,000 bail after initially being charged with child endangerment and drug possession.

Friends have taken to social media to ask for support for Lisa as well.

“As a friend of Lisa’s I know her struggles. Addiction is a desease [sic] and only when your [sic] tired and ready to change will you then recover…hopefully this sad situation is her breaking point and will make her realize that the lifestyle she was living is not life but killing her slowly.”