Sion Grech was “very jealous” of one of the men now accused of her murder,  telling friends that she wanted him for herself but that his wife was warning him not to leave, a court heard on Thursday.

Details about the murder victim in those final hours before she went missing in April 2005 surfaced on the fourth day at the trial of Ismael Habesh and Faical Mohouachi who deny wilful homicide.

Grech's body was discovered in a Marsa field, in an area where she used to loiter for prostitution, days after she was reported missing by her parents.

Alexia Gatt said she saw Grech about an hour and a half before she went missing.

Sion Grech in an image shared in the media when she was declared missing.

She also knew Habesh, explaining that Grech used to refer to him as “her partner.”

The two had been together for quite some time and their relationship seemed to be “okay,” said Gatt.

“She always spoke well about him and only complained because she wanted him for himself.”

Describing Grech as “very jealous” because of the fact that Habesh was married, the witness recalled an incident when Grech had asked her to go along with her “somewhere at Hamrun” for a verbal face-off with Habesh’s wife.

“But I didn’t go,” said Gatt.

'Intense' relationship

She said the relationship between Habesh and Grech was “like that of a couple under the influence of drugs,” adding that such a relationship would be “intense.”

“A normal relationship would be more caring…But drugs make a person tougher...You acquire a tough character,” the witness went on.

Answering various questions by the jurors, the witness said that although Grech and Habesh made no outward gestures of affection, they “appeared to be okay together.”

However, separate testimony read out to the jury on Thursday, appeared to indicate that Habesh was rather uncomfortable about his relationship with Grech.

A Libyan man called Jamal, who pleaded guilty to having stolen the red Ford Escort allegedly used by Habesh on the night of the murder, had previously testified in the proceedings.

Since he has since been deported, he could not personally testify at the trial. However, the sworn statement before the inquiring magistrate was read out.

Testifying two days after the discovery of Grech’s body, Jamal had recalled how early in the afternoon of April 4, 2005 he had met Grech and Habesh near the “old hospital” outside the Detox Centre where the three went for medication.

He heard Habesh telling Grech that his wife’s relatives had faced him over his relationship with a “gay person,” saying that he was an embarrassment to the family.

Grech used the pronouns she/her. Given that she was murdered years before the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act of 2015, she is listed in legal documents as a male named Simon. 

Habesh told Grech that he had better “find another one.”

The next day, the three met again.

They bought medication from a pharmacy and then Jamal and Habesh took heroin, while Grech went to sign the bail book at Qormi police station.

Blood on her hands

Later that day in Marsa at about 7.30pm, Grech told them that she had had an argument with a man.

There was blood on her hands.

Habesh brought a dark jacket from a truck parked nearby, handed it to Grech and then told Jamal to wait while he went to fetch his car.

But since it was getting late and he had to be home by a certain hour, Jamal set off for his residence at Palm Street, Paola on foot.

That was when he last saw Grech.

Around 9.30pm that same evening, Jamal said Habesh went to his place. Habesh asked about Grech.

Jamal told him where he had last seen her.

'I began to have suspicions'

Jamal recalled how he had learnt about the discovery of Grech’s body while following the news.

“I thought about it….I began to have suspicions…Could it have been Ismael? Sion surely wouldn’t go in there [the field] with someone she didn’t know,” the witness had testified.

Yet, in spite of those suspicions, Jamal did not go to the police.

The jurors also heard testimony on Thursday by Nicolina Portelli, a friend of Grech, who has since died.

Portelli had testified during the compilation of evidence, saying she met Grech outside the Detox Centre at around 11am that April 2005 day.

She appeared to be “weak,” and told her that it was all because of her partner Ismael Habesh who would not leave his wife.

The two went together to Paola where Portelli cashed a cheque and then back to the area of the Detox Centre. Grech had told her that Habesh (a Tunisian national) had told her that if he were to leave his wife, she would withdraw his visa.

They met Habesh and the witness said she overheard him tell Grech “how long must I tell you not to speak to me because of my wife?”

At the time, Grech was casually dressed in tracksuit pants and t-shirt because Habesh did not like seeing her in women’s clothes early in the day.

Grech looked tired and told Portelli that she had taken some pills.

The witness also said that Grech had met Habesh’s wife once.

The woman knew about her husband’s relationship with Grech because apparently, she had seen them together, Portelli had testified.

Another witness, Romina Grima, who knew Grech as a child and later in course of work, testified that she met her on the Sunday before she went missing. Grech had told her that she and Habesh were no longer together. The next day, the witness met Habesh at Winter Bar, Msida and asked about it. He replied, "No, I'm no longer with her because it can't be that a 12-year old gets to know that his father is seeing a gay person." 

This witness also said that Sion used to speak of her relationship with Habesh but there was "nothing open because he was married."

Asked to describe Grech's character, she said "perhaps slightly stubborn." 

The trial is presided by Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja.

AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Abigail Caruana Vella are prosecuting.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Ishmael Psaila are counsel to Habesh.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is counsel to Mohouachi.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto is appearing parte civile.