'She was telling me to kill her,' hammer attack accused told police

A Mellieħa pensioner accused of trying to murder his wife with a hammer told police, "She was telling me to kill her," as officers read him his rights after the alleged attack, a jury heard on Wednesday.

Police sergeant Anton Buttigieg testified that Emanuel Borg made the remark at the Qawra police station on November 11, 2019, shortly after his wife, Maria Dolores Borg, was found seriously injured at the couple's Għadira farmhouse.

Borg denies attempting to murder his wife, who suffered multiple skull and facial fractures in the attack but has no memory of what happened. In earlier testimony read out in court, she said she had gone to rest around noon that day and the next thing she recalled was being in hospital, with no idea who had hurt her.

The jury also heard evidence about tensions within the household before the incident, shortcomings in how the crime scene was preserved, and the accused's psychiatric history.

Son feared 'something bad' would happen

The couple's son, Kevin Borg, testified that his mother had repeatedly complained about his father in the days leading up to the incident.

She told him his father had been speaking to a young Filipino woman using an iPad, asking for money to send her and wanting to bring her to live with them.

His mother had become angry over the issue and told him his father "is not being right in the head," Kevin Borg said.

He described his father as having been "talking nonsense" ("jparla fil-vojt") in the days before the incident and said he had begun avoiding him.

However, he stressed he had only heard about the Filipino woman from his mother and that his parents' accounts "did not always line up."

Questioned by prosecutors about earlier testimony in which he had said he had been "expecting something bad to happen," the witness said he had expected something to happen, "but not to this extent."

On the day of the attack, he saw his mother heating food for his father before hearing the iron door to his parents' quarters open and close. He then saw his father walk onto the roof and wave towards the road. 

An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards. As it left the farmhouse, his father directed a comment towards it. The son said he responded along the lines of "what you dream at night, you say in the morning."

Inside the house, he found his mother leaning against a wall with cuts to her face and injuries to her head. She appeared dazed but was not crying, he said, and he did not think to ask her what had happened before accompanying her in the ambulance, where she vomited.

Although he later testified his mother told him she had been asleep when she was struck with a hammer, that account differed from her own evidence during the compilation of evidence, where she said she remembered nothing after going to rest that afternoon.

Under cross-examination, Kevin Borg said his father had never previously been violent. He confirmed his father was a farmer and government worker, while his mother ran a shop at the Valletta market. 

He also identified a hammer shown in photographs as one he had used days earlier while removing tiles with his father's help. He said it was normally kept in the kitchen.

Daughter cleaned blood before police arrived

The court also heard previous testimony from the couple's daughter, Nadine Parnis, a learning support educator.

She said her brother phoned her at school telling her their mother was in hospital "because father hurt her" and asked her to get home before children returned from school "so no one sees anything disturbing."

She arrived at the farmhouse at around 2pm and let herself in. 

Inside, she discovered a large pool of blood on the kitchen floor.

"I never saw blood so thick," she testified.

Following her brother's instructions, she began cleaning the blood to spare the children the sight and smell. Police later called, telling her not to touch anything, but by then she had already started.

She also found two blood-stained pillowcases stacked together in her parents' bedroom.

A hammer was later recovered from the swimming pool, while a white rubber mallet and wooden stick bore no traces of blood. She photographed the items, sent the photos to her brother and later handed her phone to court experts. 

Court IT expert Keith Cutajar extracted photographs and Facebook Messenger data from Parnis's phone while the victim recovered in hospital. He said there appeared to have been a disagreement over the Filipino woman before the victim went to sleep

Cutajar also confirmed no forensic extraction had been carried out on the accused's tablet.

Court-appointed architect Mario Cassar, who prepared a site plan, described photographs showing a sofa stained with a red liquid and a bucket of cleaning products that appeared to have been used on some of it.

Under cross-examination, Sergeant Buttigieg also confirmed police had not established a fixed guard at the farmhouse and that the scene had been left unattended before officers returned.

By then, much of the blood had already been cleaned.

Doctors differed on life-threatening injuries

Emergency physician Christopher Giordimaina, who examined the victim at 1.15pm, told jurors the 61-year-old arrived at Mater Dei Hospital with a reduced level of consciousness after vomiting repeatedly.

Scans revealed two depressed skull fractures, facial fractures and bleeding into the sinus cavities.

He certified the injuries as grievous and life-threatening.

Consultant neurosurgeon Antoine Zrinzo, however, said the victim was never in danger of losing her life, although serious complications remained possible.

He said scans showed no bruising to the brain and that later MRI scans also found no brain injury, along with unrelated slipped discs and arthritis in her spine.

Accused treated for psychotic symptoms

Psychiatrist Ethel Felice told jurors she had treated Borg for depression since at least 2012. He was eventually prescribed risperidone, an antipsychotic medication, together with antidepressants.

When she last saw him in July 2019, he was stable and taking his medication.

Stopping the medication, she said, could result in hallucinations and disturbed thoughts returning.

Felice also treated the victim after the attack, describing her as anxious and unable to sleep. The victim never showed signs of psychosis, she added.

Psychiatrist David Mamo, who examined the victim once around nine months later, said she reported occasional sleeplessness but otherwise showed clear thinking.

The trial continues before Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera.

The prosecution is led by lawyers Kevin Valletta and Justine Brincat on behalf of the Attorney General. Borg is represented by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Lennox Vella.