A court this morning heard more witnesses describe the scene at the Mintoff residence last October when Yana Mintoff Bland, the former prime minister's daughter, was allegedly stabbed by her Romanian partner.

The Mintoff residence.

The accused, Gheorghe Popa, 39, sat alongside interpreters as Daniel Mainwaring,  Ms Mintoff Bland's son, explained how on the evening on October 24, 2016 he had gone out to dinner with his mother at around 7pm and returned some two hours later.

As he smoked a cigarette on the balcony overlooking the garden which separated his house from that occupied by his mother, he heard her and Mr Popa having a heated argument. 

He went to her assistance and found her on the floor, gasping for breath, with the accused standing over her telling her 'Who is he?'

'There is no he,' she replied.

Mr Mainwaring recalled seeing the silver reflection of a knife in the accused's hand and he was then stabbed in the leg.

He rushed out of the house, then turned back for his mother and found her on the way too. She was  injured and in a state of shock.

Yelling out for help, he wrapped his arm around his mother and with the help of his friends managed to make it to the Paola health centre.

Mr Mainwaring said that he did not know much about his mother's relationship with Mr Popa.'It was her business. I knew that they argued a lot,' he concluded pointing out that his mother had declared that she had split up and did not intend to let Mr Popa into her home again.

Read:"I was facing death" - Yana Mintoff gives account of incident which led to stabbings

Next to testify was Anna Marinovic, who lived with Mr Mainwaring, at the time.

She recalled hearing an argument and said this was not the first time that Ms Mintoff Bland and Mr Popa had argued. A week earlier, she had witnessed the two arguing in the kitchen and had intervened to break up the fight. Ms Mintoff had repeatedly told Mr Popa to leave but he had refused and had pushed himself upon his partner.

Between September and October 2016 there were several arguments which led Ms Mintoff Bland to instruct her son not to let Mr Popa into their home.

Yana Mintoff Bland.

Another witness, Mark Napier, who also lived in the Mainwaring household, said he had seen Mr Mainwaring hobbling towards him, holding his mother who was evidently injured. There was blood on her clothes.

Although the witness declared that he had not seen the accused at the time of the incident, he recognized Mr Popa in court. After going with the victims to the Paola health centre, Mr Napier had accompanied the police back to the Ms Mintoff Bland's residence which was locked. Although they had the key, they did not enter because the police suspected that the accused was still inside.

The third friend sharing Mr Mainwaring's home was Aaron Attard who testified that on the night of the incident he heard Mr Mainwaring shouting for help and saying 'We've been stabbed.'  

He remembered seeing Ms Mintoff holding her chest, with blood on her clothes and hands. Grabbing the car keys, the witness drove the party in Ms Mintoff's car to the Paola health centre since he feared that the situation was too critical to risk driving to hospital.

Mr Attard had returned to the Tarxien home with the police and upon hearing crackling sounds discovered that there was a fire inside Ms Mintoff's house. Upon opening the door, the witness was met by a cloud of dark smoke and could not enter the house.

There was great commotion and the witness was reportedly informed that Mr Popa was up a tree that grew outside the residence.

EXPERTS GIVE EVIDENCE

Dr Mario Scerri testified how he had first examined Ms Mintoff at Mater Dei. She had confessed to having been involved in an argument with her partner.

There was an incised wound on her chest, a defensive wound on her left arm at the wrist and also bruising on her arm.

Mr Mainwaring had two incised wounds on his left foot and leg which had been caused by a cutting instrument with a one-sided blade.

Mr Popa had suffered four injuries to his abdomen, inflicted in a small area and at the same angle, typical features of self-inflicted injuries.

Asked by the defence whether all wounds on the three victims had been inflicted by the same instrument, Dr Scerri explained that it was difficult to tell.

Dr Daniel Vella, an scientific expert, instructed to determine the cause of the fire at the residence, told the court that the fire had originated from a sofa in the living room. The fact that the electricity sockets were not completely melted proved that the fire had not been caused by some electrical fault.

Architect Richard Aquilina, who drew up a plan of the Mintoff residence and an estimate of the structural damages caused by the fire, informed the court that this amounted to €14,800.

Mr Donald Tabone, technical expert appointed to examine the CCTV system, declared that although upon inspection the system was still switched on, it was not recording. No footage of the day of the incident could be recovered.

A police officer from the forensic department presented the weapon allegedly used by the aggressor - large kitchen knife with a black handle and blood-stains. He explained that although the knife had been clearly held by someone, no fingerprints could be traced. There were many factors such as the material of the knife, the presence of blood and the manner of handling which made the taking of fingerprints impossible, the court was told.

Inspector Spiridione Zammit prosecuted.

Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia was legal counsel.

Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared parte civile.