A police sergeant yesterday told how he found Rachel Muscat's body lying in a pool of blood under a bed in her boyfriend's room but was not immediately sure whether the body was hers or her boyfriend's.
PS Mario Spiteri said he could not tell whether the corpse under the bed belonged to a man or a woman and he did not want to disturb the scene.
He explained he had had doubts because Rachel Muscat's father had told police his daughter had told him Walid Nureddin Bazena had threatened to commit suicide if she left him.
The sergeant testified before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera in the compilation of evidence against Bazena, 22, who is pleading not guilty to Muscat's wilful homicide in Ghaxaq on August 12.
Bazena is also charged with the possession of a knife without a licence and at the time of the commission of the crime, being in Malta without leave from the immigration authorities and working without a permit.
PS Spiteri yesterday told how he returned to the Paola police station, where he was stationed, on August 12 at about 11 p.m. to find Joseph Muscat reporting his daughter Rachel, 20, missing.
PS Spiteri said Muscat reported that his daughter had left the house at about 8.30 a.m. as usual but had not returned, as was her wont, at about six or seven in the afternoon.
The sergeant said he asked Muscat whether his daughter had had any arguments before she left the house but he said she had not.
Muscat also told police that his daughter worked at a hairdresser's salon in Ghaxaq and that she had a relationship with a Libyan man called Walid and known as Wally.
The sergeant said he learnt that Muscat had previously given the police Walid's address and the Zejtun police had gone to the scene but the defendant did not answer the police's knocks.
Muscat also told them he had been to the area himself and had spoken to the owner, Anthony Agius who had told him that the Libyan man was not living with him any more.
The father had also called Rachel on her mobile but she did not pick up.
PS Spiteri said he lived in the Bir id-Deheb area and decided to go to Walid's residence again personally. He went to see Agius and asked him if he knew Bazena and whether he lived in a flat which belonged to him and Agius admitted he did and accepted to go with the police and open up for them with his key.
The sergeant said the police then went to the house and knocked on the door to Bazena's room but no one replied. They then shouted a warning that they were about to force their way in and asked Agius to open with his key, which he did.
The sergeant said there was a pool of blood just beyond the entrance. The room was not really disturbed although there was a pail of water stained with blood and a cloth in the middle of the room.
PS Spiteri said the blood led to the balcony and had started dripping down to the next floor but someone had wiped the area with a cloth to stem the flow.
The sergeant said he went round the room and eventually located a body under the bed with a knife lying next to it. He said he could not tell whether it was a male or a female person and explained this in the context of Muscat's words that his daughter had told him that Walid had threatened to commit suicide if she left him.
He did not want to disturb the scene of the crime and so he did not try to move the body but simply called the doctor at the polyclinic.
Inspector Joseph Agius said he had been informed of what had been at first billed 'probably a suicide' but later learnt that forensic experts had found a woman wearing a black top and burgundy trousers lying under the bed in the room occupied by her boyfriend.
The inspector said the girl was eventually identified as Rachel Muscat and she was found lying in a pool of blood with a tear running down her body.
Mariella Mifsud said she was a hairdresser and the victim used to work with her twice a week. On the day she was found dead, she had left the salon at about 6 p.m. but had not told her where she was going.
Mifsud described Rachel as a woman of few words who did not at work usually discuss her personal life. All she knew was that Rachel had once told her she had better stop coming to work because she had broken up with Walid and mentioned something about an argument and Walid wanting her to stay with him.
Rachel had also told her that her parents were not very keen on her boyfriend but she did not know if the couple had problems.
Omar Azumi said his father was Libyan and his mother Maltese. He was married here and lived with his wife in Paola. His parents were not together and he had lived in Libya with his father for a time.
Azumi said he had known Bazena in Libya because they lived in the same street and spent a lot of time together as children.
He said he thought Bazena came to Malta before he arrived but they remained friends here.
Azumi said he worked late on August 12, finishing at about seven in the afternoon and arriving home about half an hour later to find Bazena waiting for him.
He said Bazena looked normal and they chatted for about an hour. Bazena told him he had had an argument with his employer, who had sacked him.
Knowing that Bazena lived in a room provided by the employer, Azumi said he asked him whether his boss had thrown him out but Bazena said he was still living in Bir id-Deheb.
Azumi said he asked Bazena how things were with Rachel because he knew they had broken up a couple of months previously but that Bazena wanted to make up.
Bazena told him of an incident a few days previously when he had called Rachel and she was at some village feast with her parents and sounded a little drunk.
Azumi said Bazena told him Rachel's parents did not want him to go out with their daughter because he was an Arab but he loved her and wanted to marry her.
Azumi said Bazena left at about 8.20 p.m. A mutual friend called him the next day and told him that the police had gone looking for Bazena because he had killed Rachel and he could hardly credit the news because he had seen Bazena the day before and he had not looked worried or anything.
Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said Bazena had eventually been questioned and admitted he had killed Rachel.
Earlier, psychiatrist Dr Joseph Spiteri appeared to explain why Bazena had been admitted to Mount Carmel Hospital and he said prison doctor Joe Tonna had told staff at the mental hopsital that Bazena had been trying to harm himself.
Dr Spiteri said Bazena had been examined and found in a stable condition and was remitted back to prison. He added that Bazena could be given medicine to keep anxiety attacks at bay.
The case continues.
Police Inspectors Carmelo Bartolo, Chris Pullicino and Sandro Zarb are prosecuting.
Dr Martin Fenech is appearing for Bazena while Dr Jason Azzopardi and Dr Chris Busietta are appearing in parte civile.