'I didn't want to kill them'

A man standing trial over the murder of a young woman and her baby daughter yesterday told jurors he never intended to kill them but had lost his mind when the woman assaulted him with a penknife following an argument during which she insisted he give her Lm1,000.

Alfred Azzopardi, 47, of Zejtun, walked out of the dock and took the witness stand in his defence.

"I tried to take the knife from her to ensure she did not hurt herself, the girl or me... Then, when she hit me with the knife on my hand, I don't know what happened... I didn't want to kill anyone.

"I'm afraid of blood. A dark cloud came over me. I lost control, I didn't want to do that. I really loved her. I gave her all she wanted."

Mr Azzopardi was testifying during his trial by jury presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono.

He is pleading not guilty to fatally stabbing Vanessa Grech and her 17-month-old daughter Ailey in a Birzebbuga house on November 12, 2001 and to hiding the bodies when he threw them into a well in the same house.

Mr Azzopardi, a father of two, explained that when he met Ms Grech, his marriage was already over. "I loved her a lot. I bought her all she needed and gave her whatever she asked for. I even borrowed money for her so that she could pay her debts as she was a drug user.

"We used to meet about three times a month. She would give me pleasure and I'd pay her for it... I gave her all she asked me for and even helped her out with her daughter," he said.

Moving on to the day of the incident, Mr Azzopardi explained that he had phoned Ms Grech in the morning while he was at a bar. She told him she had just been threatened by someone she owed money and told him to go to the house and wait for her.

"When she arrived with the girl I noticed that she was not her usual, jolly self and she told me she needed Lm1,000. Her daughter was asleep and she placed her on one of the two beds in the bedroom."

He explained how he drank a glass of wine in the bedroom and they both took off their clothes. He added that he never did anything indecent in front the child. He usually bought a bag of sweets for the girl. That day he took off his clothes only because the child was asleep. "Vanessa looked worried. She did not seem to be all there and I thought she may have taken drugs. She insisted that she needed Lm1,000. So I thought she was not up to having sex," he said.

He explained that as Ms Grech insisted on the money she started threatening him. As they started arguing the girl woke up and Ms Grech lifted her up.

With the child in one arm, Ms Grech opened her handbag and produced a penknife. He said he tried to take the knife from her to ensure no one got hurt. But when she hit him with the knife a dark cloud came over him and he did not remember what he did from that point onwards.

"When, during yesterday's sitting, I saw the video (of the scene of the crime) I was dumbfounded. I don't recall all that had happened. Had she not got the knife, nothing would have happened," he said.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said asked Mr Azzopardi how, in view of the fact that he claimed that a dark cloud had erased his memory, he had given the police a detailed account of what had happened a few days after the incident.

The accused said that the day he released the statement to the police was closer to the date of the incident and so he could remember more.

Mr Azzopardi insisted he never intended to kill anyone.

Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Cassar testified that when he was arrested, Mr Azzopardi initially said he knew nothing about the death of the woman and the child. Then, he had said that when he was in the house with Ms Grech, a man knocked at the door, claiming he was the meter reader. When the man entered the house he started beating Ms Grech and Mr Azzopardi left the house.

However, Mr Cassar added, when the police asked him to explain further, he gave another version which he confirmed in a statement.

In the statement he said he stabbed Ms Grech when the argument over the Lm1,000 broke out after they had sex and while the child was in the living room.

He also told the police that when he saw the little girl in the room he grabbed her, threw her on the bed and stabbed her with the knife he had used to stab her mother.

Then, he said in his statement, he threw the two bodies into the well, Mr Cassar testified.

The case continues this morning.

Lawyer Malcolm Mifsud is appearing for Mr Azzopardi.