Updated with details 7.48pm -

A man accused of murdering his partner, Maria Lourdes Agius is facing trial by jury after another panel of jurors dismissed his insanity plea four years ago.

Michael Emmanuel, a 33-year old Ivorian national, stands accused of murdering the 35-year old mother-of-seven in her Paola home. 

Her body was found by police in her bedroom after Emmanuel had turned up at the local police station early on 15 September 2018 saying that the woman could not be roused from her sleep.

Police investigators later testified that under interrogation, Emmanuel said that on the night of the murder, Agius had told him that he was not the father of her youngest child. 

Maria Lourdes was murdered in 2018. Photo: Family handout

The victim’s mother, who used to live with the couple, later described a deteriorating relationship and various violent episodes between her daughter and Emmanuel.

Emmanuel was subsequently charged with wilful homicide.

In July 2019, his lawyers argued that he was legally insane at the time of the crime.

A psychiatrist who examined him had testified that he had some delusions of grandeur and appeared paranoid about his partner.  He appeared to be suffering from “acute psychosis,” the psychiatrist concluded.

However, the jury had thrown out that plea of legal insanity. 

Victim's mother yelled at the accused on realising daughter was dead

As the trial, presided by Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja., got underway, a police inspector testified how Maria Lourdes Agius’s lifeless body was found lying on her right-hand side facing the bedroom wall, her left hand covering her face and neck, hiding the injuries which were discovered later.

Inspector Sarah Kathleen Zerafa said that she was on duty on the morning of September 15, five years ago at Paola police station. Around 7am Michael Emmanuel reported that he had tried to wake up his partner but she was not responding.

A police sergeant had gone to the couple’s apartment where the victim’s mother informed him that Maria Lourdes was still sleeping “because of the fight” she and her daughter had had with the accused two days before.

The woman then led the officer to the bedroom where she tried to wake up her daughter.

But Maria Lourdes did not respond.

The mother began to yell at the accused, saying that he had killed her daughter because of their previous row.

Soon after, Inspector Zerafa said she arrived at the scene of the suspicious death.

Describing the layout of the bedroom, she said there was a wardrobe and a baby’s cot on the right-hand side and a double bed opposite, where the victim’s lifeless body lay, covered by a sheet, her left arm raised over her face and neck.

“She was clearly placed in that position to conceal the injuries,” said the witness.

A medico-legal expert later moved the victim’s body, revealing the scratches around her mouth and suspected strangulation marks on her neck.

Emmanuel became the prime suspect in the murder.

He subsequently signed a declaration refusing the right to be assisted by a lawyer.

When asked about that night, the suspect he recalled that he had bought a pizza but Agius did not eat. He claimed that they later went to bed but the next morning, she did not wake up.

All throughout the interrogation Emmanuel appeared calm and willingly answered all questions except those concerning that last night, answering those questions with a “no” or “I don’t know.”

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace, the inspector said that when communicating with the accused “some words were not clear” but police told him to repeat.

“He understood our questions and we understood his answers.”

The inspector said Emmanuel bore no visible injuries but told police that his hand was hurting because of the argument he had had two days before.

In his second statement, Emmanuel allegedly mentioned a cross.

A small wooden cross, slightly smaller than the palm of a hand, was shown to the jurors in evidence. That cross had been seized by the police after the accused allegedly indicated its exact location in the couple’s flat.

The officer could not recall exactly where he had found the item but said that he thought it was in the bedroom.

Fierce argument two days before the murder

A former police sergeant stationed at Paola testified that at the time of the alleged murder, he had handled investigations into the violent argument between “a dark skinned male and two women” at the Paola residence two days before Agius was found dead.

male was Emmanuel and the two women were Agius and her mother. 

On that occasion the accused had turned up at the police station with three small children, telling officers that he was willing to tell the police everything as long as they provided assistance for the kids.

He did not want the children to stay with the mother any longer.

That day an argument between the couple had escalated when Maria Lourdes’ mother allegedly threatened “to wipe the floor” with Emmanuel and then threw the youngest child onto a bed.

Later both the victim and her mother claimed that Micheal Emmanuel had punched them. He denied it, insisting that they had thrown items at each other during the heated row.

The situation between the parties had somewhat re-ignited when they met at the police station while a temporary solution was being sought for the children.

But matters calmed down again and the accused, as the biological father of two of the children, agreed that it was best if they stayed with the mother since he did not have a fixed residence at the time.

However he was ordered by police not to approach his partner nor her mother and their home.

The trial continues.

AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Maria Francesca Spiteri are prosecuting. Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is legal aid counsel.