Walid Nureddin Bazena, who pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend, has been deported to Libya after serving over two decades in jail. 

Bazena pleaded guilty to stabbing and killing 20-year-old Rachel Muscat in August 2002 and was given a 25-year jail sentence.

The Libyan national recently completed his sentence and, since then, has been held in a detention centre until his return process was complete, Times of Malta is informed.

Sources said that Bazena left Malta on a scheduled flight.

In a 2002 statement where he admitted his guilt, Bazena, who was 23 at the time, described the circumstances leading to the murder.

Bazena had been in Malta for three and a half years and had met Muscat in Paceville. They then developed a relationship.

On the day of the murder, Bazena was at a bar for hours before eventually meeting Muscat at his Għaxaq apartment at 6 p.m.

Muscat was angry when she met him and refused to go with him to his room, so he pushed her inside, Bazena had said. 

There, they spoke for about 20 minutes until she told him that she wanted to break up with him.

Rachel Muscat

But Bazena refused to accept the break-up.

The court had heard how Bazena stabbed Muscat some 20 times with a bread knife and pushed her dying body under his bed.

He then wiped the floor, changed his clothes, and went to Paceville.