A young mum was strangled in bed with a skipping rope next to her sleeping baby's cot, a court heard.
N'Taya Elliott-Cleverley 's body was found at her Wavertree home in the early hours of Friday, January 29 last year.
Prosecutors allege the 20-year-old suffered a "brutal, merciless and sustained attack" at the hands of the father of her daughter.
READ MORE: Live updates as Nigel Diakite accused of murdering girlfriend N’Taya Elliott-Cleverley
Nigel Diakite, aka Mohammed Diakite, 19, of Prince Alfred Road, who denies murder, went on trial today at Liverpool Crown Court.
Members of Miss Elliott-Cleverley's family cried in the public gallery as photos of her bloodstained bed were shown to the jury.
Opening the trial, Ian Unsworth, QC, said Diakite had "confessed" afterwards, but now says "he cannot remember anything".
The prosecutor said: "We contend that this may be something of a convenience for him.
"This assertion of amnesia, forgetfulness, contradicts what he was to say in the aftermath, when as you will hear, he clearly admitted to killing N'Taya Elliott-Cleverley to others.
"What he can now remember is, we suggest, manipulative and wholly self-serving."
Mr Unsworth said there was "overwhelming evidence" that Diakite restrained Miss Elliott-Cleverley, inflicted "multiple blows" to her face, strangled her with hands and "a ligature such as a rope" and obstructed her airways, perhaps using a pillow.
He said: "It cannot possibly be argued that what happened to her amounts to lawful self-defence."
The court heard Miss Elliott-Cleverley, from Liverpool, and Diakite, an asylum seeker who told her he was from the Ivory Coast, met in the city in 2019.
Mr Unsworth said their relationship was "not always a smooth one", but in early 2020 "early concerns about falling pregnant were soon overtaken by feelings of excitement on the part of N'Taya".
He said the children's nursery nurse loved her job and carried on working throughout lockdown, until their daughter was born that September.
Mr Unsworth said: "As you will hear she was in the very room at the time when her father killed her mother."
The court heard "problems in the relationship" led to the mum looking to move out of the flat they shared in Prince Alfred Road to an apartment with her daughter.
The prosecutor said "tragically" she was still living there by Thursday, January 28, 2021.
He said: "N'Taya never got to move. She was to die at the hands of the defendant with her daughter by her side. He left N'Taya dead or dying and left their daughter alone."
The court heard Miss Elliott-Cleverley spoke excitedly to her mum Deborah Cleverley on the phone that day about moving to her new home.
Mr Unsworth said she sent her mum a final text about the move just after midnight, and her mum replied, but that message "crucially went unread".
Shortly before 1am, Diakite used her phone to call a friend, asking him to send some money to his brother, then rang another friend.
He then called his support worker Celia Cole to leave two messages, the second at 1.49am, in which he said "sorry for everything".
Ms Cole rang him back, when Mr Unsworth said Diakite "lied" by saying Miss Elliott-Cleverley had gone to her mum's house and had left him with the baby.
The court heard he "dishonestly" claimed his girlfriend had been drinking and had "beat him", before adding he was going to jail and was going to kill himself.
Mr Unsworth told the jury Ms Cole drove to the house, arriving at 2.15am, by which time Diakite was catching a taxi on Smithdown Road.
He said: "He obviously knew that N'Taya was about to be discovered. He had no intention of returning and had lifted not a finger to help her. His only thoughts were for himself."
The court heard Ms Cole alerted neighbour Michael Ammundsen and together they found the baby asleep in her cot, but then pulled back a "neatly" arranged duvet with a "bulge" underneath to find Miss Elliott-Cleverley lying in a pool of blood.
Mr Unsworth said they rang 999 and another neighbour, Rebecca White, attempted chest compressions, but the young mum was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Diakite travelled to Liverpool One Bus Station, on the way making a phone call to his friend Ismael Donzo, who began recording the conversation.
Mr Unsworth said during the 24-minute call, before Mr Donzo met Diakite and took him to the police, "the defendant confessed to killing N'Taya".
He said: "He told Mr Donzo that he had become angry, he done everything with his hand, he punched her several times and that she had been bleeding from the nose.
"He claimed that she had been insulting him and sought to justify what he had done.
"He said, members of the jury, this, that he didn't want her to call the police and he go to jail. So he decided to finish it. He said that she was dead."
The prosecutor added: “There was a confession in the clearest possible terms. He decided to ‘finish it’. In other words to kill her."
Mr Unsworth said Diakite - appearing via video link with the assistance of a French interpreter - now says he cannot remember any attack.
He said: "It is, we suggest, a cynical and wholly false attempt to hoodwink you. It is designed to use what undoubted mental health issues he had to his own advantage."
The court heard a post-mortem examination showed evidence of Miss Elliott-Cleverley being strangled with a ligature.
Mr Unsworth said police found a skipping rope stained with the young mum's blood "concealed beneath a bin bag".
He said one handle was missing and was discovered on the floor behind the couch, bearing the DNA of Diakite and Miss Elliott-Cleverley.
Mr Unsworth said: "We understand members of the jury, that it will be suggested by the defendant, that he had been skipping immediately prior to the events that bring us here.
"Thus it will be suggested that he can remember that, but not how it came to have N'Taya’s blood upon it, or how it came to be where it was."
(Proceeding)
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