The trial of a Kilkenny man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend has heard she was stabbed eight times, and died from an injury to her heart.

Shane Smyth of McGuinness House, Evans Lane has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of Mairead Moran on May 8th 2014.

She was dragged out of the Holland & Barrett shop where she worked and attacked on Level 2 of Kilkenny’s Market Cross Shopping Centre.

The court has already heard that Mr. Smyth’s paranoid schizophrenia went untreated for the eight years leading up to her death.

The 29-year-old confronted his ex after becoming convinced that she was working for a company that kidnapped him and stole his blood.