A 28-year-old mother was left with multiple bruises and grazes across her head and body after an alleged serious sexual assault by her estranged husband, Supreme Court was told yesterday.

Dr. Monica Hoefert, a specialist who deals with sex assault victims, said she examined the Somerset woman soon after the alleged attack in her home in March of last year.

She said she found multiple injuries to the woman's head, scalp and neck, and additional injuries to her back, arm and hand, which would have been caused by recent "significant blunt trauma", including a kiwi-sized blood clot on her forehead.

And the court heard the woman also had a one inch cut to her ear, which had been caused by a blunt object, which revealed some cartilage and required nine stitches.

Dr. Hoefert also said a half inch bruise was also found in the area of the woman's body known as the perineum - between her vagina and anus.

The doctor said, apart from that one bruise, there was no other bruising or injury to the woman's private parts.

But she said that one bruise was consistent with a woman's body that was not physically ready for penetrative sex.

The doctor said during the usual course of sex, the woman's body would go through changes that would help prepare her for sexual intercourse, including the relaxing of muscles, swelling of tissues and lubrication.

The doctor said: "Normally, during sexual intercourse, the penis enters the vagina, usually, without injury.

"Generally, around the vagina and rectum area, if we see contusions, that means force has been used.

"Her body was not ready for the force of that object hitting or abutting against that area. It implies that a significant amount of force was used. In other words, during the course of normal sexual intercourse, we don't see this."

But the doctor said even if a woman did not resist the advances of a man, it would not necessarily mean that her body was physically ready for intercourse.

The 34-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has denied seriously sexually assaulting his estranged wife and causing her grievous bodily harm on March 12 last year.

Prosecutors Vinette Graham-Allen and Cindy Clark have alleged during the course of the trial that the man threatened the woman with a knife, punched her in the head repeatedly, and then sexually assaulted her after she told him that a trip she was planning to New York was none of his business.

But defence lawyer Mark Pettingill has suggested that the couple had consensual sex that took much longer than the times given by the wife.

Mr. Pettingill has also claimed, according to the woman's sequence of events, that 90 minutes of the night in question are totally unaccounted for.

Yesterday, he cross examined Dr. Hoefert and asked if the bruise to the woman's private parts could have been caused during normal sex.

But the doctor said 'no'. She added: "You would have to be pretty vigorous. It would have to be rough, hard sex."

Mr. Pettingill pointed out that there were no other injuries to the woman's private parts.

He suggested that the bruising to her perineum was closer to her anus, than her vagina, suggesting that that area would never naturally be ready for sex.

And he asked the doctor if some bruising could occur naturally in this area with normal sexual intercourse.

But the doctor disagreed. She said: "These tissues around the perineum should be relaxed enough so that we would not see bruising with normal sexual intercourse."

The lawyer added: "The only injury you found in the whole of the sexual area is a 1cm square in the perineum area and in order to show that you had to use a (microscopic photograph)?"

And the doctor replied: "Yes".

And Mr. Pettingill pointed out that the woman had no cut lip or black eye on her face.

However, on re-examination, prosecutor Ms Graham Allen asked the doctor to explain what it meant that there were no other injuries on the woman's private parts.

And the doctor said just because there were no other injuries did not mean the woman had been ready for sex, or force had not been used.

She said the vagina had "tremendous give" in it, so would not necessarily bruise.

She added: "So, if you don't see any injury, it does not mean you have not had forced penetration. In other words, you can have forced penetration without physical injury."

The trial resumes today before Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons.