A mother of three walked around her estranged partner's flat bleeding from eight stab wounds for some time before she died, a court heard.
Hadim Kedik (33), Connolly Street, Clonakilty, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Rose Patterson (30), between April 11th and 12th last year.
The Turkish barber has admitted inflicting Ms Patterson's injuries but said he never planned to kill her.
Dr Mary Gibbon told the court the background information she was given before examining bloody clothing and items from the apartment said Ms Patterson had walked around after she was stabbed. The court heard that blood was spattered and smeared around the lounge table and kitchen and bloody footprints were present on the floorboards.
Dr Gibbon declined to display clothing from the scene in the Central Criminal Court because they were so blood-stained she said they would contaminate the witness box for the next person.
The court also heard from Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster, who said Ms Patterson was stabbed eight times with fatal blows piercing her liver, right lung and left femoral artery, a court has heard.
Two members of the public gallery quietly cried as Dr Bolster read her findings to the jury of eight men and four women.
The stab wounds, seven in areas around Ms Patterson's right side and one in her left groin, ranged in depth from 9cm to 12cm piercing her right lung and fracturing a rib, piercing her liver and cutting her left femoral artery.
Dr Bolster said Ms Patterson died as a result of multiple stab wounds which caused haemorrhaging and shock.