A prosecutor alleged that a woman stabbed her boyfriend to death by plunging a knife into him through a door as he held their baby daughter in his arms.

Senior CrownCounselCarrington Mahoney made the claim at Supreme Court yesterday as he challenged evidence given on Wednesday by murder-accused Andrina Smith, 26.

She had told the jury hearing her trial that she stabbed Edward Allan (Sleepy) Dill, 25, in self defence in the kitchen of her home after he punched, slapped and tried to choke her.

Smith, who denies murder, said she acted to stop Mr. Dill attacking her, but never meant to kill him.

In his initial address to the court when the case started on February 26,Mr. Mahoney had claimed Mr. Dill slapped Smith during an argument at her apartment in Cedar Park, Devonshire, in the early hours of October 16, 2006.

He said she reacted by getting a knife from the kitchen and plunging it through a wooden door and into his neck as he tried to block her from her bedroom.

Cross-examining her on her evidence yesterday, Mr. Mahoney accused her of lying to the jury about events that night.

Expanding on his version of what happened, he repeatedly put it to her that the stabbing was in her bedroom, where Mr. Dill was located with their one-year-old baby, not the kitchen.

Mr. Mahoney claimed the couple had an argument in the bedroom during which she told him to pack his things and leave. Then she did something to Mr. Dill that caused him to say "look what you did" and mention something about his hair

Mr. Dill gave Smith a hard slap, according to Mr. Mahoney, who went on to suggest she went out to the hallway crying, and had a brief exchange of words with her grandmother who lived in the apartment. Then, he said, the "enraged" defendant went to the kitchen and armed herself with a knife.

"When you returned to the room, Sleepy closed the door. You were trying to get into the room. Sleepy wouldn't let you in. He was using his body to bar you from getting into the room," he claimed.

Smith denied this, asking the prosecutor:"Why would he do that when he could have just locked the door?" This was an apparent reference to earlier testimony that her boyfriend kept a screwdriver in the lock on the bedroom side to secure the door closed.

Mr. Mahoney continued:"He had the baby in his hand at that time. So with the baby in hand he wasn't able to turn the screwdriver to lock the door. And you were charging at him with the knife.

"She denied this - but the prosecutor continued:"And you used the knife and were trying to get at him through the door so that he would move from behind the door."Smith refuted this and further suggestions from Mr. Mahoney that she caused multiple marks in the door which appear to be stab marks. Five of these went all the way through the wood.

"You were enraged. And in plunging the knife through the door you were trying to get to his upper body," he claimed.

Smith responded:"How would I know where he was?

"This prompted the prosecutor to tell her:"Well, he's using his body to press the door in - it's a matter of common sense.

"Mr. Mahoney went on to accuse Smith of first causing abrasions found on Mr. Dill's shoulder and abdomen during an autopsy, before concluding:"And you never stopped until the knife went through into his neck on the other side of the door.

"She denied this, asserting:"I swung at him in the kitchen.

"In other evidence yesterday, Mr. Mahoney quizzed Smith about her relationship with Mr. Dill.

The jury had previously heard how the dead man had children by four other women, as well as his baby daughter with Smith.

Smith denied being jealous of what Mr. Mahoney termed as her boyfriend's "other women'. The case continues.