R v Mohammed Diakite
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 March 2022 |
| Court | Crown Court |
R
-v-
Mohammed Diakite
In the Crown Court at Liverpool
21 March 2022
Sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Morris
Mohammed Diakite, you are now aged 19. You have been convicted by the jury of the murder
of N’Taya Elliott-Cleverley.
It is now for me to pass sentence upon you. I ask that you remain seated whilst I describe the
circumstances of your offence.
The Facts in outline
At around 2am on 29 January last year, N’Taya Elliott-Cleverley was discovered at her home
in Wavertree, lying in her bed in a pool of blood. Sometime between just after midnight and
150am Mohammed Diak ite had subjected her to a vicious and sustained attack of punching
and then strangled her. At the same time N’Taya and Mohammed Diakite’s 4-month old
baby daughter was lying asleep in a cot next to the bed. The emergency services were called.
At just after 230am she was pronounced dead.
Post-mortem examination revealed 56 different sites of injury to her body. There was
extensive bruising to her face and, significantly, injuries round her neck consistent with
strangulation with a ligature. The cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation. A skipping
rope with N’Taya’s blood on it was discovered in the living room of the flat.
N’Taya Elliott-Cleverley was a healthy young woman in the prime of her life. She was a
much loved daughter and sister. She was subjected to a brutal and terrifying attack which
came about without warning. She leaves behind a very young daughter, who is now aged 18
months.
We have listened today to N’Taya’s mother, Deborah Cleverley and her sister Chantelle
Mason read their victim personal statements in court with courage and with dignity. We have
also heard read the statements of her father Joseph Elliott, her brother Paul Elliott and her
sister Samantha Elliott. Each has provided eloquent and moving testimony not only of their
own personal grief and of the ordeal of sitting through this trial, but vividly of the present and
future impact upon by N’Taya’s young daughter of the loss of her mother at the hands of her
father. We have heard too of the love and devotion now bestowed on her by Chantelle and
her partner. The loss of N’Taya is a loss which will stay with each of them for the rest of their
lives.
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