alive in the early afternoon on the day she died, a pathologist has claimed.

Miami-based consultant forensic pathologist Valerie Rao said she "can't accept'' Ms Cadell's boyfriend Tony Bukhari's account of the couple's struggle against her overdose of aspirin on May 31, 1997.

Dr. Rao, a fixture in high profile murder and manslaughter cases made these claims yesterday in Supreme Court.

The jury is charged with deciding whether Bukhari did enough to save the Royal Gazette sub-editor's life.

Under questioning by Crown Counsel Patrick Doherty, Dr. Rao said: "We know that the deceased was alive in those early morning hours.

"As she was identified as dead by mid-afternoon, considering that she had taken the drug and the state of rigor, condition and temperature of the body, all of that led me to believe that she was deceased from 12 to six hours before she was found -- that would be a consistent time with the way the body was found.'' Symptoms of aspirin overdose include tinitis or ringing in the ear, hyperventilation, disorientation, confusion, bleeding, nausea, and then if not finally arrested, death, she said.

A quantity of partially digested aspirin found in Ms Cadell's stomach would not be an indication of how much had been absorbed by her body or how long it had been absorbing, she continued.

Addressing Bukhari's assertion that Ms Cadell induced vomiting by drinking salt water -- at his suggestion -- she said: "That's not a treatment. Not even in the later stages.

"She would already have an elevated electrolyte imbalance,'' Dr. Rao explained. "Drinking a concentration of salt would make it worse.'' Nor would vomiting in the later stages of aspirin overdose make a person less ill, she said, because the lethal amount would have already been absorbed.

She scoffed at Bukhari's claim of having had sex with Ms Cadell around 1 p.m.

that day.

Dr. Rao said: "Well, you're just not going to be feeling very well. You're not going to be wanting to engage in sexual activity, not at all. I don't think it is possible. If an hour and a quarter later she was dead, she would have been confused, disoriented, even close to coma or death.'' In a Police statement presented to the jury on Wednesday, Bukhari said he arrived home after 4.30 a.m. to confront Ms Cadell about a suicide note he had found.

The couple argued about the note, and he went to sleep but was awakened some time after 11 a.m. by Ms Cadell who said she had taken pills.

Bukhari told Police he encouraged her to induce vomiting, got repeated assurances she was getting better, had sex with her, then went for a jog.

Upon his return he found his nude girlfriend on the floor dead.

Bukhari is facing two charges of manslaughter which are related to his duties as a serving Policeman and long-time boyfriend of Ms Cadell.

He has also denied two charges relating to whether or not he failed to take "reasonable care'' in advising and then assisting her after she took the overdose.

The jury has heard the relationship was on the rocks after she revealed an affair and he called off their wedding.

Also yesterday, former King Edward VII Memorial Hospital pathologist James Johnston said he backed Dr. Rao's conclusions, which were based on his initial report.

"Ms Cadell was otherwise healthy. I found no other pathologies except the quantity of granular material found to be aspirin in her stomach,'' Dr.

Johnston said.

"I found there was no evidence of injuries or violence, or pre-existing conditions. I found she had died of (aspirin) poisoning,'' he added.

"I feel that with the rigor mortis, and as it was May in Bermuda, I feel death was at the lower end of six to 12 hours.'' The trial continues this morning before Assistant Justice Philip Storr.

Tony Bukhari