The lead suspect in the January 2 Sliema murder case is to be charged in court on Thursday.

Sources confirmed that Abner Aquilina will be charged with the murder of 29-year-old woman Paulina Dembska tomorrow. He is currently being interrogated by police after he was released from state mental health facility Mount Carmel Hospital earlier on Wednesday. 

The body of Dembska, a Polish student, was found at Sliema’s popular Independence Gardens early on the morning of January 2.

An autopsy confirmed she had been raped and strangled. She had head injuries and marks on her neck which indicated she had been suffocated.

The police have determined it was a random killing and that there were no ties between Aquilina and the victim.

Investigators had to pause their interrogation following concerns about Aquilina's mental state, and psychiatric experts were called in. The suspect was subsequently sent to Mount Carmel hospital, for treatment and evaluation.

Sources said psychiatric experts were called in after he repeatedly told interrogators that the devil spoke to him on the night of the murder and that those voices had “ordered him” to commit the crime. Aquilina told police that he was “doing God’s work”.  

Over the weekend, sources close to the case thought it could be weeks before Aquilina was declared fit for interrogation.

However, it is understood he responded faster to medication than anticipated, allowing investigators to proceed with their case. 

Following his release from Mount Carmel on Wednesday, Aquilina was immediately rearrested and taken in for interrogation by the police. Maltese law requires the police to either press charges or release a criminal suspect within 48 hours of their arrest.