A 35-year-old man from San Gwann has started undergoing trial by jury over the attempted murder of a woman who was found “at the point of death” in a car park following a drug overdose in 2001.

Brooks Lia, 35 of San Gwann is denying the charges.

Dr Anthony Barbara, prosecuting, told the court how on November 2, 2001, a 25-year-old woman was found unconscious and partly undressed in the car park of Ir-Razzett L-Abjad after an overdose. He said that egoism had won over altruism and she was left to die and was found on the point of death.

Police Inspector Josric Mifsud testified that on the day in question he had received an anonymous telephone call from a woman saying she had seen a young man and woman enter a house and after a few minutes the man emerged carrying the unconscious girl. Some five hours later, a farmer called the police to say that he had found a girl whom he thought was dead. He had still called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, where she recovered.

After police questioning, the woman said she had gone with Mr Lia to buy heroin and she suffered an overdose some time later.

Mr Lia admitted to the police that he had taken her to the car park, and said he had propped her up against a tree near a rubble wall. He had noticed she was having difficulty breathing and had gone cold, and he had therefore left to call an ambulance.

He said he had warned her not to take so much heroin and added he had not immediately admitted what had happened because he was scared.