A TOP pathologist told police that he was "99.9 per cent certain" that a man who died during a row with his fiancee did not kill himself.
A fatal accident inquiry has heard that Colin Marr, 23, was killed by a single blow from a kitchen knife that went through his sternum and into his heart.
He had been arguing with his girlfriend Candice Bonar, now 27, after she accused him of cheating on her.
She claimed Colin stabbed himself because she was leaving him - and police said his death was suicide.
But Professor Anthony Busuttil, head of medical forensic services at NHS Lothian, told the inquiry last week: "This wound is much more likely to have been inflicted by another person."
Busuttil also pointed out that the knife had been pulled out of the body, which would have required great force.
Asked if it would alter his view if only one partial fingerprint - Colin's and not Ms Bonar's - had been found on the handle of the knife, he said: "I maintain it was more likely to be homicide than suicide."
A police inspector had told the inqiry that Prof Busuttil had said he was "99.9 per cent" sure Colin did not kill himself.
The professor was one of six pathologists who gave evidence before Sheriff Alastair Dunlop in Dunfermline last week.
Each had reviewed the post mortem report from then trainee pathologist Elizabeth Brooks-Lim.
Prof Busuttil, 65, and Prof Michael Green, 72, both said the wound was likely to be an act of homicide, largely because the knife had plunged through the breastbone and into the heart.
The other four said the pathology evidence alone did not provide enough information to make a definite decision one way or another.
Colin and Ms Bonar were rowing at their home in Lochgelly, Fife, on July 10, 2007, because she believed he was having an affair.
Ms Bonar moved to Australia in 2008 but returned to give evidence to the inquiry.
She said Colin had stabbed himself as she walked out after telling him their relationship was over. But Prof Green, a forensic pathologist since 1966, said: "The site of the wound and the fact that it has passed through bone means, I think, that you cannot exclude homicide.
"I wouldn't be happy to dismiss this as a self-inflicted wound. I lean towards homicide."
The inquiry also heard that there was only a single print made by the deceased on the handle of the knife.
Allan Bayle, 60, an independent expert formerly with Scotland Yard, said the print was a light one, not consistent with gripping the knife at the time the fatal blow was struck. Other experts said there was no way of telling how lightly the knife had been held.
The inquiry continues.
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