The mother of a toddler alleged to have been murdered by her then-boyfriend told a court that she had been alone with two-year-old Alissady Powell for about six hours on the night she disappeared.
Yvané Dixon – formerly Dixon-Powell up until her divorce from her ex-husband this year – told Stan Reiz, KC, defence counsel for defendant Devon Emmanuel Wright Jr, that Wright and his cousin Shantel McLean, who was living with the couple at a Cayman Brac apartment, had gone out on the evening of 25 July 2022, the night before Alissady’s body was found on ironshore about 0.7 miles from her home.
Dixon said that Wright and McLean had arrived back at the South Side Road East apartment after midnight and that Wright had stayed outside for about 20 minutes before coming in and joining her in the apartment’s main bedroom.
She said she put Alissady to bed in the apartment’s other bedroom just before midnight and left the door a little ajar.
Dixon, who appeared in Grand Court by video link, said she had heard the front door close in the early hours of the morning. She said Wright was no longer in the bed and she got up to check.
She added that she had noticed the smell of cigarette smoke and explained that Wright often got up during the night to smoke.
Dixon said she had noticed the door to Alisaddy’s room was not in the position she had left it and found that the little girl was gone.
“Her door was not how I left it,” she said. “Her door was more open. I could see she wasn’t in her bed.”
She added, “Her door was in a different position. That’s what prompted me to go in there.”
Defendant said he had not seen child
Dixon agreed she had asked Wright if he had seen Alisaddy and he said he had not.
She added the pair had gone back inside and searched for Alissady again and that McLean had been awoken by the noise.
Dixon added that she noticed a pair of Croc sandals Wright usually wore when he went outside to smoke were still in the kitchen.
She said she could not remember what Wright had on his feet when she saw him outside, but that he was not out of breath or wet.
Reiz also questioned Dixon on her later statement that she smelled the distinctive body odour Wright had after exercise in Alissady’s room.
Dixon agreed she had not mentioned that in the videotaped interviews already shown in court, but did at a later date.
She added that she had also told police in a statement made almost three years after Alissady’s death that she had noticed a distinctive pair of sneakers owned by Wright had gone missing shortly afterwards.
The court earlier heard Dixon tell a 911 operator when she called shortly after 5am on 26 July to report her missing, that she had checked on Alissady about two hours before, but had also later estimated it was about 4.30am.
Dixon’s financial worries
She told Reiz that she had separated from her husband around the time she met Wright and had divorced this year.
Dixon, who has two other children, agreed that her daughter had liked Wright and that they were “very close”. But she denied she had ever found being a single mother difficult, although she said Wright had “helped to a degree”.
Dixon said she had been a close friend of Wright’s sister, Katie Jo Powell, but that their relationship had soured. She told Reiz she believed that was because of the amount of time she had been spending with Wright.
Dixon added that she and Powell had come to blows at one stage and that Powell had told her, “I’ll kill for my brother”.
The court heard that Dixon had also said in a later police interview that she “would say a threat to me is a threat to my kid”.
Dixon agreed she said that Powell could have been involved in Alisaddy’s disappearance on two occasions, including in a police interview.
Reiz also asked Dixon about financial problems she was having in 2022 and she agreed she had a lot on her mind at the time.
Wright had denied the abduction and murder of Alissady Powell.
The trial, before Justice Emma Peters, continues.
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