The mother of a 29-year-old woman who was murdered in Hamilton in 2018 testified on Wednesday in the murder trial of her daughter’s accused killer.

Justin Dumpfrey has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of Holly Hamilton.

Hamilton’s body was found inside the trunk of her work vehicle on Jan. 17, three days after she was last seen by family. The young mother had been stabbed 17 times in the face, neck and torso.

Dumpfrey and Hamilton had been in an on-again, off-again relationship and shared a young child.

Hamilton’s mother, Angela, told the court that she had initially approved of her daughter’s relationship with Dumpfrey but her opinion changed after a few months when she became aware that her daughter was being abused.

“When she became pregnant, that’s when things started getting out of control,” Angela said.

The court heard Hamilton’s townhome had been broken into a few weeks before her death and the 29-year-old believed it was Dumpfrey.

Angela said her daughter was so shaken up that she talked about moving to Ottawa to get away from him.

During cross-examination, Dumpfrey’s lawyer, John Erickson, questioned Hamilton’s fear of his client. Erickson asked Stacie, Hamilton’s sister, about a video that appeared to be shot by Dumpfrey and showed Hamilton joking around at the beach with their daughter.

Stacie said the laughter may have been genuine but it also could have been a facade for the benefit of their child who was just a few feet away in the video.

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The court also heard from the Hamilton police officer who was ordered to go into Dumpfrey’s apartment on Jan. 15 after he left his four-year-old daughter on the doorstep of her grandmother’s house.

Cst. Ben Kingdom said he knocked on the door of Dumpfrey’s apartment on Barton St. near Fairfield Ave. but no one answered. He then entered the empty apartment through an open window and noted a light left on in the bathroom.

“The rest of the apartment was incredibly messy but the bathroom was spotless,” Kingdom said.

He told the court officers later found a grocery store receipt that included supplies like bleach and garbage bags, none of which were located in the apartment.

The trial continues Thursday.