Self-employed painter Lucas Spence -- who claimed he beat up his former girlfriend after being threatened with a knife -- was told: "Your story is a concoction.'' Prosecutor Ms Charlene Scott suggested to Spence he had taken the six-inch knife from his kitchen to frame Sharon Davis.

It was a ruse, she said, to back up claims he battered Davis in self-defence.

Sixty-two-year-old Spence, however, stuck to his guns during the third day of his trial.

"I am telling the truth,'' he insisted as lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments.

Spence, of West Avenue, Southampton, denies causing grievous bodily harm to Davis on October 7, 1994.

Last Thursday, Acting Magistrate the Wor. Kenneth Brown gave himself a week to unravel the conflicting evidence. He said he would deliver his judgment on Friday afternoon.

The court has heard Spence repeatedly struck Davis with a metal bar at his apartment, leaving her with a broken arm, bruises, and cuts. She spent four days at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, and has since suffered arthritis in her neck. She has also experienced ringing in her left ear, and frequent headaches and blurred vision.

The prosecution has argued Davis -- an executive secretary with Bermuda Government -- went to Spence's home on October 7 because he owed her money.

As she was leaving the apartment, she felt a blow on the back of her neck and fell to her knees.

In a bid to protect herself, she picked up a board, smashing several windows at the apartment while trying to fend Spence off.

The defence, meanwhile, has maintained Davis deliberately shattered the glass panes, and came at Spence with a knife.

Spence used the metal bar to force Davis to drop the knife before Police arrived, the defence argued.

Wrapping up his case, Spence's lawyer Mr. Peter Farge urged Mr. Brown to consider a previous incident which had influenced his client's behaviour. He said Davis had burst into Spence's home and stabbed him with a pair of scissors while he lay on his bed.

Mr. Farge also pointed to the differing physiques of the couple -- while Davis was well built, Spence was slight.

In addition, he argued Davis could have walked away from the scene. For his client, however, there was no possibility of escape. And he hit Davis with a bar on her hand until she was subdued.

"He was protecting himself. This was a desperate woman trying to get at him.'' Mr. Farge said there was enough reasonable doubt in the case for Mr. Brown to acquit his client.

Ms Scott said Spence could have stayed behind the door of his apartment if he had been so afraid of Davis. "However, we have heard evidence from Miss Davis that they had an abusive relationship in the past.

"Spence does not seem to be one not to have the last say in a matter. His voice must be heard.

"Miss Davis went to the apartment to get back money he owed her and from behind felt a blow on the head. Her evidence is that she stumbled and picked up something to defend herself, and in so doing the windows broke.

"She tried to get back inside the property for her own safety, but was hit many times with an iron bar.'' Earlier, Ms Scott asked Spence whether he had physically abused Davis before.

Spence replied: "I never put a finger on her until this incident.'' Ms Scott put it to him that he had thrown an electric heater at her, hurting her arm.

She also suggested he had struck her on the head with a beer bottle.

But Spence responded: "It's false. I have never argued with her. I never did anything. I was trying to be the good guy.'' Under questioning by Mr. Farge, Spence said Davis had told him when she came to his apartment on October 7: "I am going to be your worst nightmare.'' He added: "That's what she turned out to be.''