A woman, who was doused in petrol and set alight - allegedly by a spurned lover - died in "tremendous" pain after sustaining 97-percent burns, a KwaZulu-Natal judge heard on Thursday.

On trial at a circuit court hearing in Pinetown before Justice Hillary Squires, former wrestling and show promoter Shane Jaipal has pleaded not guilty to murdering Argentina Loutsaris on October 21 1997. Jaipal says he was in Umtata on the day of the murder.

A specialist forensic pathologist, Sagren Naidoo, said only Loutsaris's palms and the soles of her feet escaped being burnt.

Under cross-examination by Jaipal's counsel, Chris Snyman, Naidoo remained adamant that Loutsaris's ability to speak coherently and rationally shortly after her ordeal would not have been impaired.

The pathologist, who was interpreting a medical report compiled by another specialist who had subsequently left the country, said this ability would be lost as "shock syndrome" set in and her organs began to fail. He identified this as the most probable, ultimate, cause of her death.

Loutsaris's eldest son, Victor Loutsaris, who testified earlier, claims his mother told him it was Jaipal who had followed her from a supermarket, forced her car off the road, doused her in petrol and set her alight.

Paramedic Vanessa Wentink, who treated Loutsaris on her way to Durban's St Augustine's Hospital, where she died, said the badly burnt woman was "as alert as any of us in the courtroom" during the 20-minute ambulance journey from Island View Road on the Bluff to the hospital.

With acknowledgements to Sue Blaine and Independent Online.