The mother of a man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death rang the victim a few days before the murder and warned her to “be careful because he’s going to do something stupid”, a court heard on Monday. 

Justin Borg stands accused of murdering Chantelle Chetcuti, 34, outside a Żabbar club earlier this month. Ms Chetcuti was stabbed multiple times in the head and neck. The accused has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. 

On Monday, Ms Chetcuti’s father testified that Mr Borg’s mother Rita had called Chantelle just days earlier and warned her to be careful “because he’s going to do something stupid” [ħa jagħmel xi waħda]. 

“He was obsessed,” Eugenio Chetcuti told the court. 

Ms Chetcuti and Mr Borg had children together in the course of their 17-year relationship, which ended some months before her murder. 

Testifying in court, Mr Chetcuti presented a legal letter dated September 2019 in which Ms Chetcuti informed her former partner that their relationship had irreparably broken down. 

Her father told a court that the relationship was at times violent. 

“She got badly beaten by him. They were serious hits,” he said. He recalled how Chantelle had told him that Mr Borg had once knocked down the door to their house.

The father’s claims of domestic violence were further backed by another witness, who recalled under oath how on the day of her murder, a “terrified” Ms Chetcuti had told him that she was being stalked by Mr Borg. 

The victim’s father, Mr Chetcuti, said that he had filed a domestic violence report against Mr Borg several years ago for having attacked his daughter. 

“But he played the victim and got away with it,” he said. 

He relived the horror of seeing his daughter after the attack.   

“My greatest grief was to see her there with knife in her head and no one could pull it out. Her mother immediately fainted on the spot. There were police, medics, blood everywhere,” he recalled.

Friend says Borg stalked Chetcuti

Johann Azzopardi, who said he had known Ms Chetcuti for 21 years and was also friendly with Mr Borg, testified that a “terrified” Ms Chetcuti had told him on the day of her murder that Mr Borg was stalking her. 

“She said Justin was turning up wherever she went,” Mr Azzopardi said. 

He testified how a few weeks before her murder, Mr Borg had shown up three times throughout the evening and then stopped by her car when Ms Chetcuti had crashed that night, refusing to move “even when traffic wardens told him to go away”. 

Following questions by defence lawyer Franco Debono, Mr Azzopardi admitted that Ms Chetcuti had hit Mr Borg that night. 

“Let’s paint a full picture,” Dr Debono said, asking the witness whether he knew that Mr Borg had bought an apartment in Ms Chetcuti’s name and also bought her a BMW car.  

The magistrate chided Mr Azzopardi, telling the witness that he was under oath and had to tell the entire truth. 

The witness recalled incidents in the past when Ms Chetcuti had told him that her partner was violent. She had once told him that Mr Borg had kicked her in her back and there was one time when she had called Mr Azzopardi for help, showing him a bite mark she said Mr Borg had caused. 

“Once, Chantelle got a call from Justin’s mother, warning her ‘see what you’re going to do about him’ [araw x’se tagħmlu bih],” Mr Azzopardi said.

Eyewitness recalls Chetcuti’s reluctance

Earlier in the sitting, an eyewitness who saw Ms Chetcuti minutes before she was murdered recalled how she had spoken to a man who approached her inside the Żabbar bar and told him that she did not want to leave with him “because you’ll start beating me”.  

Ms Chetcuti was playing a game of pool with another man when Mr Borg allegedly entered the bar and demanded to speak to her outside. Prosecutors say that he then stabbed her repeatedly, fled the scene and eventually turned himself in, showing up outside police headquarters in blood-stained clothes. 

Eyewitness Sandro Zammit testified how he Ms Chetcuti walked around the pool table as the man approached her, as though she was trying to avoid him. 

He heard the man tell Ms Chetcuti “come, let’s go”. 

She said ‘no, because you’ll start beating me. Leave me alone,’” he recalled. 

The exchange had been brief, he said. The two ended up walking outside.

Minutes later, another man walked into the club and told people to hurry outside. 

There, he was shocked to see Ms Chetcuti on the ground. He rushed back inside, called his partner and son, and left the bar. 

Mr Zammit said that he was later told that the man Ms Chetcuti had been speaking to was “Justin”. But when asked whether he recognised the man as the accused in the dock, the witness said he did not.

Following the witnesses' testimony, the court decreed that there was sufficient evidence for Mr Borg to be placed under a bill of indictment.

Inspector Kurt Zahra prosecuted, with assistance from lawyer Kristina Garilli from the attorney general's office. 

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Francesca Zarb were counsel for the defence.  Lawyers Lara Dimitrijevic and Stephanie Caruana appeared parte civile. 

The case continues on April 3.