Loretta Saunders’ mother has been unable to attend this week’s preliminary hearing for the two people accused of killing her daughter because she was listed as a witness for the defence.

The defence had also subpoenaed the victim’s brother and youngest sister to testify as witnesses this week and, as a result, they too were excluded from the courtroom this week.

However, the defence decided not to call any witnesses to the stand, and testimony has now concluded.

“It is a relief, but it is also having me stressed out for all these days wondering, what are they going to ask me? What’s going to happen?” said Miriam. “And I wasn’t allowed to find out what’s happened to my daughter.”

“It was a decision on our part that there was enough evidence already and that we didn’t need their testimony,” said defence attorney Terry Sheppard.

Other family members have attended the preliminary hearing daily, many of them donning T-shirts bearing the words “speak the truth” and a picture of Saunders and her father.

“I would like to ask the public if they could have prayers, not only for us, but for other murdered victims because that is a big comfort,” said the victim’s father, Clayton Saunders.

Her family has waited each morning for the accused to arrive at Halifax provincial court, but they were caught off guard by an early arrival Thursday morning.

Extra security measures were in place as 26-year-old Blake Leggette and 28-year-old Victoria Henneberry arrived at court in separate vehicles, with about two dozen police officers and sheriffs escorting them to the building.

The beefed-up security comes after a disruption in court Wednesday when one of Saunders’ uncles lunged at the accused.

Leggette and Henneberry were rushed out of the courtroom to a secure room through a back door.

One sheriff pushed the courtroom’s panic button and additional sheriffs rushed to help, as several people in the gallery broke down in tears.

Several family members helped the sheriffs hold the man. He was then led out of the courtroom and has been banned from further court proceedings.

On Thursday, the Crown called Saunders’ boyfriend to give evidence, along with Henneberry’s former friend and the woman who manages the apartment building where Saunders was killed.

The lawyers will give their closing submissions on Friday.

Derrick has said she will need a few days to reflect on the evidence submitted over the past week. She will give her decision on whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial on Aug. 1.

The Crown has said it is confident in the case it has presented.

Leggette and Henneberry are charged with first-degree murder in Saunders’ death.

Saunders, 26, was originally from Labrador but was a student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax at the time of her death. The Inuk woman had been writing a thesis on murdered and missing aboriginal women.

She was last seen alive at her apartment in Halifax’s Cowie Hill neighbourhood on Feb. 13 and was reported missing Feb. 17. She had been renting the apartment to Henneberry and Leggette.

Saunders’ body was found in a hockey bag in a ditch off the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B. on Feb. 26.

Her family says she was three months’ pregnant at the time.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl