A defence lawyer cast doubt on the circumstances in which Allan Edward (Sleepy) Dill died as he cross examined a prosecution witness yesterday.

The 35-year-old bled to death from a neck wound at his girlfriend Andrina Tamara Smith's apartment in Cedar Park, Devonshire, on October 16 2006.

Prosecutors claim Mr. Dill slapped Smith, 26, during an argument and she reacted by plunging a kitchen knife through a wooden door and into his neck as he tried to block her from a bedroom.

Smith is now on trial at the Supreme Court for murder — a charge she denies.

During evidence for the prosecution, Florida-based forensic expert Jan Johnson said evidence pointed to the bleeding victim being on the inside of the door of the master bedroom in question. She also showed the jury apparent knife marks through the door.

Ms Johnson claimed Mr. Dill was adjacent to the door when the bloodshed originated - a version of events challenged by Smith's lawyer Charles Richardson yesterday.

He put it to her that the injury may have occurred elsewhere but the injured person might have moved "from A to B" clutching the wound - meaning blood loss was not visible at the scene until he reached the bedroom.

Ms Johnson replied: "I saw no blood patterns or any other type of physical evidence at the scene that would indicate or suggest that the injured person was injured anywhere else in the apartment other than the master bedroom."

The case continues.