Abner Aquilina told a police officer who saw him shortly after Paulina Dembska was murdered that he needed "two more victims” to complete his plan, a court heard on Monday.
Aquilina stands accused of murdering Dembska, a Polish student, on the night between January 1 and 2, 2021 at Independence Gardens in Sliema. He was arrested a short while later, after making a scene inside a church at Balluta.
Officers have previously testified that he told them that “the devil” made him kill Dembska and a court has heard that a police bodycam recorded his confession on camera.
On Monday, a police officer who saw Aquilina at the Floriana health centre shortly after his arrest in Balluta recalled the suspect’s words.
“Only 33% of the plan was fulfilled and two more victims are necessary to complete it. The devil told me to get up to something (nagħmel waħda),” PS Lino Parascandalo recalled Aquilina rambling.
Parsascandalo recalled more of Aquilina’s words.
“When I was near the church I saw a woman. She seemed Maltese, short, plump, reddish hair….I don’t want to look at her again. What’s done is done… I killed a person and raped her after she was brain dead in Sliema… she tried to stop me.”
Parsascandalo said that Aquilina had crumpled up a letter containing his rights when it was handed to him. He described the suspect as “agitated”, saying he appeared to be in two minds whether to answer questions or not.
The witness was asked why Aquilina was only given his rights after being questioned.
Aquilina, he replied, was initially only viewed as a person of interest, rather than a suspect. But when he began to speak, answering all questions, he was handed his letter of rights “which he threw away.”
Bodycams were switched on as per normal police procedure when encountering the public.
Asked by the defence whether that procedure extended to interrogations too, the witness replied in the negative.
Superintendent Keith Arnaud who also testified on Monday, recalled that Aquilina’s behaviour during his first interrogation appeared “strange” but also “forced”. He appeared to be normal during a following interrogation the next day.
The account he gave on the day of the murder, all captured on police bodycams, as well as the description he gave of the victim, her physique as well as her clothes, were all “perfect,” said Arnaud.
In fact, he appeared to recall everything up to the episode when he tried to attack two men walking along the Sliema promenade close to Peppi’s Kiosk. But when he was then asked about the alleged murder that happened minutes later, Aquilina refused to reply.
Later during Monday's sitting, a friend of Aquilina's, Derek Spiteri, testified about the day before Dembska was murdered.
He told that Aquilina had spent the night at his house but was not there when he woke up in the morning. Aquilina's lawyer implied that Spiteri had tried to abuse Aquilina the previous night - something the witness denied.
The case continues in December.
Inspector Wayne Camilleri prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Darlene Grima. Lawyer Mario Mifsud was defence counsel. Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Lara Dimitrijevic appeared as parte civile.