Man to be indicted for attempted murder

A Zejtun man charged with stabbing his wife told police he was upset because she was having an affair and had neglected their home, a court heard yesterday.

Police Inspector Joseph Agius told Magistrate Lawrence Quintano that he spoke to Paul Caruana some time after he was released from Mount Carmel Hospital and shortly before he was arraigned on July 17.

The inspector testified in the compilation of evidence against Caruana, 31, who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill his wife Sandra with a cutting instrument and seriously injuring her in Zejtun on June 12.

Caruana is also charged with two counts of the illegal possession of a cutting instrument and breaching the peace.

Oliver Flores took the witness stand and explained how he heard someone shout from a nearby car while he was driving. He pulled over to see what was wrong and saw that one woman was driving and another was unconscious.

"The driver told me that the unconscious woman had been stabbed by her husband. When I realised how serious the matter was I drove in front of them, hooting and waving a white handkerchief, to clear the road so they could get to the Paola health centre quickly," he said.

Caruana's sister Marthese Camilleri said that on the day of the incident she drove by her brother's garage and saw him sitting on the pavement, staring and crying, and surrounded by people.

When Camilleri was told there had been a heated argument, she drove Caruana to prison, where she worked as a guard, with his consent.

"On our way he only spoke about the children. All he said was 'she has ruined my children'.

"He also told me that he would rather put his daughters in an orphanage than leave them in the state they were in," Camilleri said.

At the end of yesterday's sitting Magistrate Quintano ruled there were enough reasons for Caruana's indictment.