Murdered schoolgirl Rhiana Moore was around seven months pregnant when she died, and in a secret relationship with the man accused of killing her, a jury heard yesterday.

Opening the case against 33-year-old Ze Menefeskiduse Selassie at Supreme Court, prosecutor Michael McColm said the victim was stabbed more than 18 times.

"You will hear evidence from which you will conclude that it's clear that Miss Moore had been subjected to a vicious attack by someone wielding a knife, stabbing her so many times, in such a manner, that the person's intent could only have been to cause her death," he told the jury.

"The prosecution says that the person who did that act is the defendant who's now before the court."

Selassie, of Battery Road, St. David's, denies murdering 14-year-old Rhiana with premeditation on or about Friday, May 30 last year.

Premeditation means he had a deliberately-formed intention to kill her before he allegedly did so.

Mr. McColm explained that the schoolgirl's partially-clothed body was found in the mangroves at Blue Hole Park nature reserve in Hamilton Parish at 11.38 a.m. on Saturday, May 31.

MarketPlace employee Falconeri Bacabae gave evidence for the prosecution later yesterday, explaining how he was at the scene looking for fishing bait when he discovered the corpse lying face down and topless. He asked another man in the park to call 911.

The prosecutor said an autopsy revealed stab wounds to Rhiana's head, neck, torso and elsewhere.

Two of them could have caused her death. The first one to her neck cut her jugular vein. The second, to her lower back, cut her liver and kidney and pierced her renal vein.

The victim also had a cut to her right hand. Mr. McColm said this was consistent with her being injured while defending herself. He told the jury that the autopsy also revealed Rhiana to be between 27 and 30 weeks pregnant.

He explained that although her body was found by the water, there was nothing to suggest she died by drowning and it is believed to have been disposed of there after her death.

The prosecutor said the jury will hear about prolific text messages and phone calls between Rhiana and Selassie, which demonstrate the nature of their relationship.

"The prosecution says that this was a relationship largely conducted in secret. It was not a relationship known to Miss Moore's mother, and indeed her mother had not known that she was pregnant," he said.

He explained that Rhiana attended the Radnor Road Christian Fellowship church youth group on Friday, May 30, between around 8.40 p.m. and 9.20 p.m.

She was observed sending and receiving text messages on her cellular phone, and told youth leader Jenna Bean that she was leaving early to be picked up by a relative.

It was the last time she was seen alive. Her mother, Julieann Moore, began to search for her some time after midnight when she failed to return home.

The prosecutor listed key pieces of circumstantial evidence, which he said would lead the jury to conclude that Selassie was responsible for the killing. One witness reports seeing him in his blue Suzuki Swift car around 10.30 p.m. that night in St. George's. He was said to be leaving Ferry Reach at the intersection with Mullet Bay Road at a high rate of speed, with the front passenger seat down.

Another witness sighted a male which prosecutors allege was Selassie standing beside a small blue car parked at a St. David's boatyard later that evening, arguing with someone inside.

The witness reports that the male referred to the other person as "Ree" or "Ray" and banged on the car while asking: "What are you doing to me?"

A neighbour of Selassie is said to have seen him returning home in his blue car around 6 a.m. the next day. He's also said to have driven to the City Hall car park around 7.15 a.m., where he had his car washed.

According to Mr. McColm: "The defendant was observed to be noticeably tired and his car was dirty with a lot of red-coloured mud on the wheel arches and in the interior."

Selassie was allegedly captured on security cameras at the Tynes Bay waste disposal depot around 8.39 a.m. taking a black trash bag out of his car and into the depot.

He was arrested at his home later that day, and his car was examined by forensics experts. Mr. McColm said DNA from both Selassie and Rhiana was found on the front passenger seat.