A forensic scientist told the High Court on Friday that it was unlikely Madam Yu Hongjin, 30, had stabbed seafood stall owner Eu Lim Hoklai before she died at his hands

Ms Lim Chin Chin said there was none of his blood on her despite the couple struggling in a narrow massage cubicle, where Madam Yu allegedly plunged the 30cm-long knife into Eu's abdomen, .

"They were in very close proximity and they would be blood spatter on her especially as Eu had told the court he had lifted his shirt to look at some wounds he had sustained earlier," she told the court.

'The absence of blood spatter on her indicated that she very likely did not stab him.'

Ms Lim of the Health Sciences Authority was rebutting the testimony of Professor Johan Duflou, the defence's expert witness, who had told the High Court that Eu's version could be credible and that the wounds were probably not self-inflicted.

She also took issue with Prof Duflou's assertion that the wounds were too widespread to be self-inflicted. She said the nine injuries suffered by Eu were all grouped around his abdomen.

She said that typically in a struggle, slashes and stab wounds would be spread all over the body.

She and Dr Wee, both from HSA's Centre of Forensic Science, however, were unable to address the issue of 'hesitation marks' - which are usually light injuries created by initial half-hearted attempts to plant self-inflicted wounds, which Prof Duflou noted were missing on Eu.

Justice Kan disallowed any questioning by the prosecution as it had Prof Duflou's report since the start of the trial in January but had not solicited an opinion from its forensic experts when they first testified in March.

The same applied to Dr Duflou's contention that self-inflicted injuries are usually superficial, while four of Eu's wounds had penetrated the abdominal wall, which can be between 5cm and 7cm thick.

Eu is on trial for strangling and stabbing Madam Yu to death.

They had been lovers since mid-2005 but he decided to break up when he saw a man leaving a flat in Ang Mo Kio in June 2006.

She demanded $30,000 in compensation and his refusal to give her the money led to daily quarrels and her death.