wife with a machete was adjourned shortly after it began yesterday.

Carlton St. Aubyn Byfield, 25, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to unlawfully cause the death of his 30-year-old wife, Sherrylynn Byfield, unlawfully wounding her with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and unlawfully wounding her.

After three witnesses the jury was excused until Thursday morning. The Crown's first witness was King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's Emergency Department director Dr. Edward Schultz.

He told the court he evaluated and treated Mrs. Byfield for her injuries on February 8 when she was brought in.

He said she had been sliced across the back and front of her head, her wrists were cut and her left thumb was "almost amputated''.

Dr. Schultz added that she was alert despite the heavy bleeding and was given painkillers and antibiotics .

Next to take the stand was hospital orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Panagal Chelvam.

He said Dr. Schultz's team handed Mrs. Byfield over to his care in the operating room.

The two deep lacerations on the back of her head, he continued, were 15 centimetres and 12 centimetres long respectively. The cut to her forehead was ten centimetres long, he added.

Dr. Chelvam said the victim's left thumb was 90 percent amputated and there were a few cuts to her wrists and hands.

The last witness to take the stand for the prosecution was Det. Con. Eric Malcolm Woods of the Police Scenes of Crime office.

He said he went to Victoria Terrace's Apartment Four on Princess Street in Pembroke on February 8 and took a series of photographs of the residence with another officer.

These photographs of the interior and exterior of the apartment were shown to the court and identified by Det. Con. Woods as an accurate picture of the scene when he arrived there.

At the conclusion of the officer's evidence, Puisne Judge Mr. Vincent Meerabux adjourned the trial until Thursday.

Byfield -- who is on $5,000 bail with two like sureties -- is represented by Archie Warner while Charlene Scott appears for the Crown.