The trial of a lawyer accused of killing the mother of his child started in the Supreme Court yesterday with the jury hearing stories of abuse from the victim.

In a pair of statements read to the court, signed in 2018 and 2019, Chavelle Dillon-Burgess made allegations of assault against Kamal Worrell.

Ms Dillon-Burgess described two incidents in which arguments over the feeding of their child had become physical.

She withdrew her first statement in a video interview about a month after she made it, stating that she did not wish to deprive her child of their father. But she later said she had changed her mind about pursuing the case.

Mr Worrell has denied murdering Ms Dillon-Burgess on an unknown date between April 10 and June 11, 2020.

He has also denied a charge of wounding Ms Dillon-Burgess and a charge of common assault related to an incident on June 1, 2019 and six counts of common assault related to an incident on November 14, 2018.

The Supreme Court heard that Ms Dillon-Burgess was reported missing in 2020 and has not been found.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that while there was no forensic evidence in the cases, the jury would hear evidence that Ms Dillon-Burgess was not the type of person to leave her child.

“You are not going to hear from some magic witness who will come and say they saw him kill her,” she said. “Those things would be nice, but that is not this case.

“You do not need to see the rain yourself to know it had been raining, to be convinced it is the only reasonable conclusion.”

Opening her case, Ms Clarke said that Ms Dillon-Burgess’s mother had filed a missing persons report and that no one had seen or heard from Chavelle since around April 11, 2020.

“People were concerned about Chavelle because she had previously made complaints to police in November 2018 and June 2019 about abuse at the hands of the defendant,” Ms Clarke said.

“She complained of arguments and altercations that she would have with the defendant about the care of their son.”

Ms Clarke said the first of the incidents happened only two months after the child was born and the argument became physical. The defendant grabbed Ms Dillon-Burgess by the arm, dragged her out of their shared accommodation and pushed her outside.

“In that same incident, Chavelle complained the defendant grabbed her by the throat with one hand and slapped her about the face with the other,” Ms Clarke said.

In a second incident, she said an argument between the defendant and Ms Dillon-Burgess about baby food erupted into violence. The defendant hit her, pushed her to the ground and knelt on her chest so she could not breath.

“Chavelle armed herself with a steel spatula but the defendant disarmed her and hit her in the forehead, causing it to be cut and start to bleed,” Ms Clarke said.

“Against that background and the missing persons report, the police went to Chavelle’s last known residence, which is the defendant’s residence, to do a welfare check.

“There, they met the defendant, who advised police that he had not seen or heard from Chavelle for about two weeks. He was vague on details but he did tell the police that she had left after a domestic dispute that became physical during the Easter period of 2020.”

Ms Clarke told the jury they would hear evidence that the defendant did not call to report Ms Dillon-Burgess missing and that he used her debit card on April 12, after the date he said that she had left.

In a witness statement read to the court dated November 15, 2018, Ms Dillon-Burgess said an argument with the defendant about baby formula the previous day had turned physical.

She said Mr Worrell had gripped her by the arm after she told him to shut up and began to drag her out of the house.

Ms Dillon-Burgess said she broke into the house because she did not want to leave her child behind and the argument continued with shoving before the defendant slapped her and grabbed her by the throat.

In a video statement dated December 13, 2018, Ms Dillon-Burgess said she wished to withdraw the previous statement and wanted to do what was best for their son.

However, in a written statement made the following June, she said she had changed her mind again and wanted to pursue the complaint.

She said: “I presented the police with a withdrawal statement because the baby was young and I wanted to give Kamal an opportunity to be in his life after he convinced me he wanted to make things right.”

In another statement, she made new allegations against Mr Worrell, describing an argument about baby food that turned physical when she tried to kiss their child goodbye as she was leaving.

She said the fight escalated, he pushed her to the ground and knelt on her chest.

When he got up, she said she grabbed a spatula and pointed it at him but he disarmed her and struck her in the forehead with it.

Ms Dillon-Burgess said the argument continued outside the home and Mr Worrell shoved her and she threw a rock at him.

She added that she later discovered that she was bleeding from her head.

The trial before Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe continues.

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