Murdered Swedish journalist Kim Wall was "afraid" of going on the submarine where she died, according to her boyfriend.
During a third day of graphic evidence heard in the case of the murder of Ms Wall, the victim's partner told the court he had considered accompanying his girlfriend on the submarine.
Danish inventor Peter Madsen (47) is accused of torturing and killing Ms Wall when she visited him alone on his home-made submarine on August 10th 2017.
Her boyfriend, Ole Stokke Nielsen, told the court that Ms Wall previously met Madsen and then, later, asked if it was OK she missed a party to go out to see the inventor again.
He said: "She says right away that she is going on the submarine and asks if it was OK."
She "was afraid to go on the trip in a submarine", he added, but she was "fascinated by people dedicated to something".
Mr Nielsen later went to Madsen's lab while he was looking for his girlfriend and met the inventor's wife, who expressed surprise when she was told someone else was supposed to be with her husband on the submarine.
Drawing by Anne Gyrite Schütt shows accused Peter Madsen (left) and the prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen (standing right) on the first day of the trial at the courthouse in Copenhagen, Denmark | Imge: Anne Gyrite Sch'tt/AP/Press Association Images
Madsen admits dismembering her body and throwing it overboard, but denies the charge of premeditated murder.
The accused says the 30-year-old freelance journalist died when the air pressure suddenly dropped and toxic fumes filled his homemade submarine, while he was up on deck.
A cause of death has not been discerned.
The medical examiner told the court on Thursday that the effect of being exposed to water and a period of decomposition makes it difficult to determine if carbon monoxide or the cutting of Ms Wall's throat was what caused her to die.
Ms Wall's torso was found with more than 38 stab wounds and lesions.
On Wednesday, Madsen claimed he slashed her body to prevent the build-up of gases that occurs when a person dies.
The examiner contradicted Madsen's statement, saying the stab lesions were "superficial" and as a result "serve no purpose of letting gasses leave or enter."
Giving evidence on other wounds inflicted on Ms Wall, the examiner said lesions inside Ms Wall's genitals "could" have been inflicted while she was dying, but the 15 punctures above her genitals were most likely inflicted after her death.
Peter Madsen's submarine 'Nautilus' sits on dry land in Copenhagen, Denmark | Image: Theresa M?nch/DPA/PA Images
The prosecution have painted a picture of Madsen as a sexual sadist who was obsessed with beheadings and murdered Ms Wall as part of a sexual fantasy.
On the second day of the trial, jurors were shown animated videos from Madsen's hard drive which showed women being decapitated and impaled.
The examiner also told the court the victim's head may have been restrained or gagged and that her hands and feet could have been tied.
Ms Wall's torso showed evidence of blunt force being inflicted while she was still alive, she added.
"This typically happens if you run into a table or is hit by a hand or another body part," the medical examiner told the court.
A witness who helped rescue Madsen from the sinking submarine told the court on Thursday that the accused seemed "calm and focused and not as shaken, other than [a] small shiver".
Ms Wall's boyfriend added about his late girlfriend: "She was at the same time an incredibly ambitious journalist and an amazingly curious person, who found beauty in all places and couldn't stop herself from travelling, experiencing, discovering and sharing with others."
Madsen has admitted lying to investigators and changing his account of what actually happened to Ms Wall several times.
The prosecution has said it will seek a life sentence, which in Denmark averages around 16 years, or safe custody, a legal alternative which would keep him behind bars indefinitely as long as he is deemed dangerous.
Six out of 37 experts and witnesses have been heard so far in the trial, which continues on Friday.
