The Central Criminal Court has heard Laois nanny Aoife Phelan was not pregnant at the time of her death.
Robert Corbet of Sheffield Cross, Portlaoise admits killing the 30 year old in 2012 but denies her murder.
He told detectives he snapped and strangled Aoife Phelan in his garage because she threatened to make his life hell if he walked away from her and her pregnancy.
He tied a plastic bag over her head and dumped the body in an empty barrel which was discovered days later buried in a field at his family home.
The jury heard the couple had had sex but were not going out together and that this was a bone of contention with the 30 year old nanny.
Robert Corbet who was 23 at the time told detectives she'd informed him that she was over 2 months pregnant.
Today State pathologist Marie Cassidy said the post mortem shows Aoife Phelan was not pregnant at the time of her death – nor had she been before.
She concluded that the 30 year old died from ligature strangulation such as a cable tie but she accepted under cross examination by the defence that her injuries could have been caused by an arm or hand.
