The Belfast Crown Court jury of nine men and three women also heard claims that when arrested in Co Cavan, 44-year-old Thomas Graham had written a confession about killing Geraldine Kane, a 47-year-old mother-of-four from west Belfast.

Graham, of no fixed address, has already admitted to her manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility but his plea has not been accepted by the Crown who are proceeding on the charge of murder.

Opening the case, prosecuting QC Frank O'Donoghue told them there was no issue that Graham killed Mrs Kane on July 19, 2004, but they had to decide whether or not he was suffering from such an abnormality of mind at the time it would have substantially impaired his judgement.

He declared: "It is up to him to prove to you that he was suffering from an abnormality of mind... however if you are not satisfied of that, then you will convict him of murder."

The lawyer said that around the time of her death, Mrs Kane and her husband had been having marriage problems and that the pair "finally parted" just a day or two before the killing.

Separately, both Mrs Kane and Graham had gone with friends to the Glenowen Bar and ended up leaving together at the end of the night in a taxi to Graham's home.

Mr O'Donoghue said they had known each other for a few months and had " what appears to be an on-off relationship".

He told the jury that at Graham's Cavendish Square home in west Belfast one of his housemates, a postman, left for work at around 5am and could hear a woman laughing, "so we know she was alive then".

The jury heard that when the postman came back from work at around 9.30am, Graham was driving off in his car.

"It is the prosecution case that between 5am and when he left at about 9.30am the defendant had stabbed Geraldine Kane to death," claimed Mr O'Donoghue.

In the hours following, Mrs Kane's family tried to contact her to no avail and alerted the police but it was not until the next day that her body was found lying on the floor beside Graham's bed, partially covered by a duvet.

"The evidence will establish that she had been stabbed on five occasions," claimed the lawyer who added that the weapon was found on a bookshelf in the room.

Mr O'Donoghue said that Graham was arrested on July 26 after being stopped at a vehicle checkpoint close to Lough Auchter in Co Cavan.

When Graham was searched "a written statement in the car confessing to the murder of Geraldine Kane" was found, the lawyer revealed.

The hearing continues.