A defence lawyer in the murder trial of Andre Hypolite said a prosecution witness was so ?out of her head? on cocaine and ecstasy that she could not remember what happened on the night of her boyfriend?s death.

During the defence?s cross-examination of Stacey Pike in Supreme Court yesterday, Ms Pike revealed she was imprisoned for a year in 1991 for manslaughter after stabbing a man to death because he was assaulting her friend.

?It was an accident,? she said. ?It was 15 years ago.?

She told defence lawyer Mark Pettingill that she threw the knife away after stabbing the unnamed man.

Ms Pike was remanded in prison for eight months and was released four months after her conviction.

Her case went to a Supreme Court trial where she was charged with murder but she was convicted of manslaughter, she said.

Under reexamination from Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale, Ms Pike said the man and her girlfriend had been fighting for a ?good while before she ran out of the house?.

?I stabbed him in the shoulder because I wanted him to stop hurting her,? she said. ?I burst a main artery to his heart. I looked at my hand and saw blood. I called the Police after I stabbed him.?

She also showed Police where she threw the knife, she said.

Ms Pike ? who has said that she used cocaine since she was 16-years-old ? said she is now, at age 35, drug-free, however, the defence accused her of lying.

?I suggest you were so out of your head that you don?t know half of what went on and you reordered it later,? Mr. Pettingill said.

?Andre killed Nicky and you sit here and blame me?? she replied.

But Mr. Pettingill asked Ms Pike how she ended up holding a butcher?s knife.

?What happened here is this turned into a drug frenzied fight like you and Nicky had before,? the defence lawyer said. ?I suggest Andre climbed out of the window to escape from you.?

But Ms Pike said she was terrified because Hypolite had a knife in his hand.

Ms Pike also denied ever working as a prostitute.

?But in the instance of Andre Hypolite you were exchanging sexual favours for drugs?? Mr. Pettingill asked. She agreed.

Hypolite, 33, of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Nicholas Dill and wounding Ms Pike with intent to cause her bodily harm on Boxing Day, 2004.

Mr. Pettingill said Hypolite had a blood test which could prove his client never took ecstasy on Boxing Day, 2004.

Under questioning, Ms Pike denied that ecstasy made people aggressive or psychotic or that the pills were often mixed with other drugs, she said cocaine made her ?high for 2.2 seconds?.

?When anyone first tries crack for the very first high, they always chase after that very first high,? she said. ?That?s why people continuously use it. But feel they never quite get it.?

On Boxing Day, 2004, she smoked crack in between performing oral sex, she said.

She denied telling a woman in rehab that Mr. Dill was abusive to her but admitted trying to get out of the relationship because she was ?sick of the drugs?.

Neither did she hit Hypolite with a machete that night ? ?I never got a chance to hit him,? she said.

Mr. Pettingill suggested to Ms Pike she attempted to manipulate Police at the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute (MAWI) where she stayed after Mr. Dill was killed, into thinking she had no one to talk to there, however, she disagreed.

?The doctors did not know how to handle the case,? she said. ?They said they never had a case like me before, having seen a murder and me being hurt at the same time, the trauma like.?

But then Ms Pike admitted that she avoided talking to the MAWI doctors.

?I tried to push them away,? she said. ?I did not want to talk about it. How could I talk about something so dramatic??

But when Mr. Pettingil said a doctor?s report said she ?needed to talk about it frequently? in order to ?get her story straight? she said the doctor was a liar.

Mr. Pettingill said Ms Pike was a liar but she disagreed.

The prosecution then read testimony of Det. Con. Emmerson Carrington who said he arrested Hypolite at Lisa Caines? Raynor?s Drive, Southampton home on December 29, 2004, when the murder-accused had bruises all over his body.

Samples of Hypolite?s blood were taken by Police doctor, Dr. Jahtinder Heir that day and sent to the Government Analyst, Det. Con. Carrington said, while Pol. Con. Connie Saltus said Dr. Heir also took samples of Ms Pike?s blood at MAWI.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) forensic biology specialist Joy Kearsey received Hypolite?s, Ms Pike?s and Mr. Dill?s blood samples at her Halifax lab on February 21 in order to make DNA profiles of the trio.

Ms Kearsey said DNA is the genetic blueprint for life and, with the exception of identical twins, everyone?s DNA is completely unique.

The forensic expert said the blade of a large, brown-handled knife found at Lusher Hill, Warwick, contained the blood of Nicholas Dill, while the handle of the same knife contained the blood of Hypolite ? ?In the area where it would ordinarily be held by a person?.