Friday, 20 Sep 2024

Girl, 3, was ‘dead for some time’ when found on ‘dirty mattress’, jury hears

A three-year-old girl was killed and was "dead for some time" when her body was found in a bedroom with no lightbulb or carpet, jurors have heard.

Kaylee-Jayde Priest's mother Nicola Priest, 23, and her partner 22-year-old Callum Redfern are accused of murder after "marks and bruises" were found on the tot's body.

The court previously heard claims Priest would hit Kaylee around the head and refer to her as a "brat". The girl had also been heard crying "in a fearful tone".

On one occasion, neighbours recalled hearing a bang and then Kaylee crying, before allegedly hearing Priest say: "I'll just say she fell off the bed."

The eighth day of the trial has heard Priest was on the bed "crying and distressed" with her daughter on the floor as a student paramedic arrived at her Kingshurst flat at 11.17am on August 9 last year, BirminghamLive reports.

West Midlands Ambulance Service technician Miss Caitlin Harper said she found Kaylee on a "dirty mattress" and her bedroom was missing carpet, curtains, a duvet cover, a bed sheet and a light bulb.

"[Priest] was crying and distressed and calling out, 'I don't think she's alive'," she told Birmingham Crown Court.

"The little girl was on the floor next to the bed, lying on her back.

"It was apparent she had been dead for some time.

"Her body was stiff and lips were purple in colour. There was blood pooling on her torso."

Priest told Miss Harper that Kaylee was put to bed at 7.30pm and was sick three times the night before.

"She told me the last time she checked on her was 10.30pm", the technician explained.

Miss Harper told the court the mum said she found her daughter dead when she woke up at 10.30am, before moving her to the floor.

Priest told her she had carried out CPR on her daughter, but when paramedics arrived she was sitting on the bed 'very upset'.

The technician continued: "She told me two weeks prior Kaylee had fallen off her play table. She said she hit her head but no other injuries were sustained.

"She said she vomited after she hit her head, but no other injuries and she was happy and fine after.

"She told me she had some reduced appetite recently and wasn't eating as normally, generally."

Miss Harper said that when medics cut open Kaylee's pyjama top, marks, bruises and a red abrasion was uncovered.

"I saw marks to her chest and torso area. There were bruises in small clusters to the side," she told the court.

"There was a red abrasion in the middle of the chest."

Police arrived and the student paramedic was told it would be a "crime scene".

The technician added: "The mattress appeared to be quite dirty.

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"We asked if we could switch the light on, but Priest said the light bulb had gone off and she didn't have any spare light bulbs. There wasn't a bulb in the room."

Priest and Redfern deny murder, manslaughter and allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

Source: Read Full Article

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