physically and emotionally abused his ex-girlfriend.

Kenneth Dill, of Southdown Farm, Southampton, pleaded not guilty to assaulting Leyoni Junos of Paddock Drive, Warwick.

And he has also pressed charges against 33-year-old Junos, saying she assaulted him.

"I am going to further my studies abroad and she will do anything to stop me,'' Dill said in Police statement read out in court yesterday.

He added that Junos -- who he claimed had left a death threat on his answering machine -- wanted revenge for "other relationships'' he had and would do anything to "embarrass, discredit and slur'' his character.

But Junos denied she was jealous.

Under cross-examination by Dill's lawyer Mr. Saul Froomkin, Junos claimed that Dill had several affairs during their two-year relationship.

"Mr. Dill was emotionally abusing me,'' she said. "I was not jealous, I was being deceived by him.'' She also denied she was jealous because she thought he had lunch with another woman on May 17 last year.

"I was disturbed, because he told me it was none of my business who he was having lunch with,'' Junos said.

Describing the night of the alleged assault, she said when she arrived at Dill's home he was talking on the telephone in the kitchen.

Admitting that she was angry because he was ignoring her, Junos said: "It made me feel invalidated. He laughed at me and said I was drunk.'' She denied that she slapped Dill at that point, but admitted she did try.

She also denied using profanity and recalled only having said: "I may be drunk, but I am not a liar.'' Junos said she left Dill and went into the living room.

She claimed that he then entered the room in an aggressive manner with his fist clenched.

"He came across the living room floor and I felt a blow to my face,'' she recalled.

Junos denied breaking furniture, or smashing a lamp in retaliation.

When asked why she took off the wall a life-size portrait of Dill in a Bermuda Regiment uniform, Junos said: "I saw that picture as representing the face Mr. Dill put forward to the community which was a false image.'' Dill, however, told the court Junos entered his house at 10 p.m. while he was talking on the telephone and drinking a glass of orange juice.

All of a sudden, he said, the door sprung open and the phone was disconnected.

"She was screaming at the top of her lungs, saying I was nothing but a liar.

I also smelled alcohol on her breath,'' Dill said. "She slapped me hard across the face, and kicked my behind. I pleaded with her to stop striking me and shouting.'' He said she also demanded to know who he had lunch with that day, and then started overturning furniture and smashing things.

"When she lifted a life-size portrait of me in my Regiment uniform, I put my arms around her waist,'' he said. "She continued to struggle until we were outside. I released her and she entered my house again.'' Dill stressed that he did not want to embarrass Junos by calling the Police, so he said he drove off in his car, hoping she would sleep off the alcohol while he was away.

Dill said he returned home 30 minutes later to find his clothes strewn around the house. Dill said he spent the rest of the night at his office.

Recalling that he saw Junos several days later at The Princess Hotel, Dill said she took him aside and said she had nasal injuries because he had punched her.

He said he told her: "I would never hit a female no matter how much I was provoked.'' Junos testified that she had two X-rays done on her nose, because she was having discomfort. But she admitted that doctors could not find evidence of fracture or bruising.

Dill told the court that several days after running into Junos at The Princess, she left a death threat on his answering machine, saying she would kill him if he ever came near her again.

The case continues this morning before Magistrate the Wor. Cheryl-Ann Mapp.

Junos is represented by Miss Elizabeth Christopher.

Kenneth Dill