The police have suspended their investigation into the murder of a man in a Mellieħa house early on Friday morning after the prime suspect was hospitalised. 

Sources said the 44-year-old woman who was arrested on suspicion of killing the man complained about being in pain and was taken to hospital, where she was admitted and kept for observation and treatment. 

The man, who was also 44, was found lying face down on the kitchen floor with stab wounds to his neck and chest. He was covered with a sheet. Both the man and the woman are from the Philippines.

On Friday, the police said that the Qawra district officers had been alerted to the incident by the prime suspect herself. She called the police at 12.45am and told them that she was waiting for them at Triq il-Kbira. She was injured and told the police she had been involved in an argument but did not disclose the location of that fight. 

The police said the woman was taken to police headquarters in Floriana and questioned. At about 4am, she told officers that the altercation had taken place at a house in Triq il-Fortizza and involved a knife. 

District police officers went to the house, where they found the dead man. A medical team from Mater Dei Hospital certified him dead at the scene. 

The police seized two knives which they believe were used in the argument and arrested the woman, whom they suspect of committing the crime. 

A magisterial inquiry into the case is ongoing.