A SEAFOOD stall owner, who is on trial for murdering his China lover, said that he never intended to kill her.

Eu Lim Hoklai, 54, also denied locking the front door of the massage parlour in Ang Mo Kio when he went there on that fateful morning of June 18, 2006.

When Justice Kan Ting Chiu said that this was highly improbable, Deputy Public Prosecutor Winston Cheng told the court that this could not be verified as the lock had been changed.

Eu did not see Madam Yu Hongjin lock the door but said she could have done so when she went to get her handbag and was out of his sight.

After he told his 30-year-old China lover that he did not have the $30,000 to pay her as a separation fee for breaking up with her, he turned around to leave.

She then reached over and grabbed his shirt. He then felt pain on the right side of the waist.

Next he saw blood and caught a glimpse of her right hand holding something black.

A struggle ensured between the couple.

When police arrived, Madam Yu had been strangled to death and stabbed twice. Eu, who had nine stab wounds, was unconscious outside a massage cubicle.

At Tuesday morning's hearing, a replica of a massage cubicle was set up in the courtroom so that the accused could relate the events leading to Madam Yu's death.

Asked by DPP Cheng why he did not negotiate for a lower separation fee, Eu said that it did not occur to him.

The DPP then suggested that Madam Yu had never asked for money.

Disagreeing, Eu explained that he did not bargain because 'it's not the sale or purchase of goods with haggling of prices.'

Later he told the court that he paid the monthly $800 tuition fee for Madam Yu's son . He had also given her $8,500 to start her massage parlour.

Altogether, he had spent up to $20,000 since they met in March or April 2005.

Although he paid the rent of her flat near the massage shop, Eu said they had sex in hotels as she never allowed him to stay long there.

But on June 14, he spotted a man leaving her flat at about 6am. That was when he decided to break up with her.

Hearing continues on Tuesday afternoon.