A mum accused of murdering her three-year-old toddler posted videos of her dancing and smiling on TikTok weeks after the little girl's tragic death, a court heard.
Nicola Priest, 23, uploaded joyful-looking videos of herself dancing to music with sexually explicit lyrics just six weeks after the death of her daughter Kaylee-Jayde Priest.
The toddler's body was discovered with a "dirty mattress" in a bedroom with no curtains, carpet, or lightbulb in Kingshurst, West Midlands, last summer, BirminghamLive reports.
Priest denies harming her child in any way and says the videos did not mean she was not "broken" at the death of her young daughter.
She told Birmingham Crown Court: "Just because I did a few dance videos it doesn't mean I didn't miss my little girl."
The mother accepted that she put out a video called 'My Version' with a smiley face emoji while she was living in supported accommodation.
She said she was dancing and smiling while keeping in time with the music and words.
"This is 45 days after Kaylee died?" asked Gurdeep Garcha QC, representing Callum Redfurn, Priest's boyfriend.
She replied: "Yes, it does not mean I was not broken. Just because I did a few dance videos. It doesn't mean I didn't miss my little girl."
"When you were dancing around the room were you thinking of Kaylee?" asked Mr Garcha.
"I thought of her non-stop," she said.
Young Kaylee-Jayde was reportedly subjected to a "ferocious assault" and received "serious injuries to her chest and abdomen," said Andrew Smith QC prosecuting.
The toddler had suffered 19 rib fractures in the hours before her death, the court heard.
Priest and her partner Redfern, 22, have denied charges of murder, manslaughter and allowing the death of a child between August 7 and 10 last year.
Her mother told the jury that her daughter would discipline Kaylee-Jayde by tapping her hand and occasionally smack her.
She admitted that Redfern would tell of the toddler too.
Priest said: "It would vary. I would hear it or I would see it. He told me he had smacked her. It was mainly bedtimes.
"I said: 'She is three and she does not understand,' basically. I didn't say anything to stop it. I was scared and did not know how to ask him.
"He just told me he had smacked her. He would raise his hand back so it was quite a hard smack.
"I said: 'She was three' but it never changed him from doing what he did."
Andrew Smith QC prosecuting said that Priest made a 999 call on August 9 but Kaylee had already been dead for several hours when paramedics arrived.
He said that the couple had messages which showed an “uncaring attitude” towards the three-year-old.
Mr Smith added: "The catalyst may have been Kaylee interrupting them spending time together.
"They bear joint responsibility for Kaylee's murder."
The trial continues.
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