Nurse tells court how Erin Tanti gave sperm samples in prison fertility bid

A prison nurse told a court on Wednesday that convicted murderer Erin Tanti told doctors at Corradino Correctional Facility that he wanted to have a child with his partner through artificial insemination because he felt “time was pressing” as he approached 40. 

Maria Dolores Spiteri was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Tanti, his partner Marisa Gallo and St James Hospital owner Josie Muscat. The three are pleading not guilty to charges linked to allegedly unauthorised medically assisted procreation.

Spiteri, a nurse assigned to psychiatrist Maria Axiak, testified before Magistrate Leonard Caruana that the matter came up during a follow-up appointment with Tanti on a Monday afternoon in 2024.

According to the witness, Tanti said he and Gallo wanted to have a child and asked for help to be allowed out of prison to attend a clinic for an artificial insemination procedure.

He told the psychiatrist that prison authorities were aware of the request and that Gallo had sent around 30 emails about their wish to become parents. Tanti also said an unspecified ministry knew about the matter, Spiteri testified.When prison doctor Chris Cremona later entered the clinic, Axiak asked whether they could help Tanti and Gallo.

Spiteri said Tanti told Cremona he would look for a clinic to start making the arrangements. The nurse said contact was later made between Cremona and St James Hospital, where the process was to take place.

 She said she became aware of the details because the doctors told her Tanti was to attend St James Hospital on a particular day and would also have to attend the prison clinic to provide a sample to be sent to the hospital.

Spiteri said she did not personally know Gallo, but had occasionally communicated with her on WhatsApp after Gallo obtained her number from third parties.

“I don’t know Erin’s partner personally, but sometimes we communicated on WhatsApp. She offered to meet me and give me biscuits because we were helping her, but that was not the case as far as I was concerned. In my view, I was obeying the instructions of my superiors,” the witness said.

She said Gallo told her that Muscat was carrying out tests on her and identifying the best days for Tanti to provide samples to St James Hospital.Gallo had also asked her for Cremona’s number, but she refused to give it to her.

“Dr Cremona told me that arrangements would be made on a particular afternoon for the sample to be taken and then handed to a courier… we were instructed to take it to the gatehouse where searches are carried out,” Spiteri testified.

Her role, she said, was to inform Tanti of the date and time and prepare the bags and labels in which his sample was to be placed. The procedure was known only to her, Axiak and Cremona because it involved confidential medical information, she said.

“On that day I gave him a sample bottle and a bag. He went to the toilet and, when he gave us the sample in the bag, I sealed it with the label and staples and sent it to the courier at the gatehouse with a person whose name I do not remember and who did not know what was inside the bag,” Spiteri said.

The courier’s details had been provided to Cremona by St James Hospital and the courier never entered the prison, she added. Spiteri said Gallo was later informed that the procedure had failed because of the stage of her menstrual cycle.

A second sample was taken on a Saturday, when another nurse had been assigned to Tanti. The witness said Tanti was due to go upstairs to provide a sample, but those present did not know what it was.

Spiteri said she intervened after hearing another nurse complain about not knowing what kind of sample Tanti was meant to give. “Leave it to me, I’ll take care of everything,” Spiteri recalled telling them, adding that she could assume what type of sample Tanti was going to provide.

The same procedure was then repeated and the sample was later handed to a nurse who reassured her that it had reached the gatehouse, she said. Spiteri said she later learnt from Gallo, through WhatsApp, that the medical procedure had been successful and that she was pregnant.

Gallo sent her a photo of the ultrasound and a video of the baby’s heartbeat, the witness said. “I told her ‘God bless’,” Spiteri testified, adding that, as a mother herself, she could sympathise with Gallo. “I’m her secret godmother,” the nurse told Tanti’s partner.

Tanti, a former drama teacher, is serving a prison sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Lisa Maria Zahra, who fell to her death at Dingli Cliffs in March 2014.

He pleaded guilty in 2019 to wilful homicide and was jailed for 20 years and six months.

The current case concerns allegations that Tanti, Gallo and Muscat were involved in unauthorised medically assisted procreation while Tanti was in prison.

Inspector Lydon Zammit and lawyer Stephen Gulia are prosecuting. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Nicolai Bugeja and Joseph Bugeja are appearing for Muscat.Lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Xuereb are appearing for Tanti and Gallo.