One week on from the life sentence of Kamal Worrell for the murder of the mother of his child, sleepless nights remain for Thelma-Jean Wong, the grandmother of his victim, Chavelle Dillon-Burgess.

“There are no winners in this thing — it is very hard,” Ms Wong told The Royal Gazette.

She is seeking legal aid with her daughter, Rose Belboda, and Worrell’s mother to petition the courts for care of the couple’s five-year-old son, also Kamal, left behind by the killing of his mother with his father jailed.

The boy is at present under the care of a guardian appointed by his father.

Ms Wong said her daughter was left “heartbroken” in the child’s absence.

“My daughter is very stressed and depressed. Even my great-grandchild told me on the phone, ‘Nana, I am so depressed’, not being with his family.”

She said she was stunned to hear a small boy use the word “depressed”.

Ms Wong conceded that with the trial finished, it was “a relief to know it’s over”.

However, she said that putting Worrell behind bars “is not going to bring her back — although he is found guilty, there is no closure”.

“We have not found her body, until this day.”

Next April 30 will mark four years since the 26-year-old was officially declared missing.

She vanished shortly after the island went into lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe, who ordered Worrell to spend a minimum of 27 years in jail before becoming eligible for parole, told the court at his March 13 sentencing that Worrell’s refusal to reveal the fate of Ms Dillon-Burgess went against “every ethical fibre of a just society”.

In January, a jury found Worrell guilty by a majority decision of murdering Ms Dillon-Burgess on an unknown date between April 10 and June 11, 2020.

Ms Wong said she was convinced that Worrell would remain silent.

“He is the only one who knows what happened and where he put her, but he is not saying anything. He said he already told it under oath.

“He is never going to say. Only he knows, and whoever did it with him if somebody else was involved. We only know that God knows.”

Ms Wong recalled encountering Kamal’s son on a packed bus with his carer this week, and getting to hold the boy in her lap.

“He said to me, ‘Nana, I used to be with you, can I come stay with you?’ It breaks my heart.”

She said part of her pessimism over Worrell revealing the location of Ms Dillon-Burgess’s body came from the circumstances of his defence argument.

“What Mr Worrell has been saying all along is they had a fight, she packed her clothes and left.

“But where would she leave to when the country was on lockdown? She didn’t have transport. She never called her friends, anything.

“That girl would never go anywhere and leave her baby behind.”

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem may inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers