A Serbian woman who shared the Mellieħa flat where a man was stabbed to death in July, was sleeping in her room when she heard the couple fighting as they often did.

Dragana Vessalinovic was testifying on Monday at the compilation of evidence against Mayumi Santos Patacsil, 44, who stands accused of having murdered her partner, Marcelino Montalban Saraza, at their rented two-bedroom apartment in the very early hours of July 2. 

The witness recalled how that night she was sleeping with her daughter in their room at the shared accommodation when she heard their Filipino flatmates fighting. 

But they always fought, said the witness, adding that her husband would tell them “to stop, to keep calm because the neighbours were complaining too.”

Asked whether she could identify anyone inside the courtroom, the witness remarked, “yes, the one with glasses,” indicating the slight, spectacled woman seated at the front bench assisted by two interpreters. 

The accused’s former flatmate confirmed further that she had given police messages she had received from Patacsil along with her Facebook password.

The witness’s husband, who preceded her at the stand, said that he had not been at home when the incident happened but also identified the accused, remarking that “she looked different now.”

A former colleague of Marcelino also testified about how that July night, shortly after midnight, he and his wife were just about to go to bed when a loud, persistent buzzing of the doorbell at their third floor Mellieha apartment prompted them to look outside.

“We looked down and saw her,” said Marlon Ranada Bautista with reference to Patacsil.

But he had gone back to bed.

'She was a problem'

“We did not want to talk to her. She was a problem. They were always fighting,” added the witness, explaining that when he first moved to Malta in 2018 he had shared accommodation with Marcelino and other bus drivers. 

The witness was aware of the couple’s constant fighting, the court heard.

Asked by defence lawyer Francesca Zarb whether he personally knew the accused, Bautista said that he had spoken to Patacsil “maybe ten times.”

He used to drive his wife to the salon where the accused worked and she had also visited the couple’s home twice to massage his wife. 

Questioned further about his comment that the accused “caused trouble” the witness said that others drivers said so too.

“As much as possible I did not want to get involved with her,” he said.

Following the alleged stabbing at around 2.04 am, the accused had filed a report with officers from the police’s Domestic Violence Unit.

Pictures show blood splatter on the balcony of the home. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Patacsil had told police how her partner Marcelino had been drinking beer at the couple’s home when he began to insult her, threatening to kill her and her family, testified PC Josianne Vassallo.

He then went into the kitchen, grabbed a brown-handled knife and threatened to “cut off her head,” the woman had told police, showing them injuries on both her palms as well as bite marks.

That was when she had reacted, kicking him in his private parts in self-defence.

As Marcelino lay on the floor, he had allegedly turned the knife against his stomach in an act of self-harm, his partner had told the officers at the Domestic Violence Unit who had promptly alerted colleagues at the Qawra police station.

Soon after, officers turned up at the Mellieha apartment where Marcelino’s lifeless body was found lying in a pool of blood.

As Monday's hearing reached an end the court, presided over by Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo, decreed that there was sufficient prima facie evidence for the accused to stand trial.

The case continues in January.

Inspectors Wayne Camilleri and Shaun Pawney led the prosecution, assisted by AG lawyer George Camilleri.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Francesca Zarb, Ryan Ellul and Tiziana Micallef are defence counsel.