A double murder victim made an emergency 112 call saying she and her partner were being attacked by a man who was still behind the door, a court has heard.

Carmen Abela was describing the attacker when there was a sudden banging and screaming followed by silence before the call fell through. 

The 9.20am call on October 15 happened seconds before Abela, and her partner Joe Bartolo were killed in an attack allegedly carried out by Iddrisu Faisal, a 34-year-old Ghanaian national who was one of their tenants.

When the victim's body was found, she still had her mobile phone clasped in her hand. 

Iddrisu had been renting a room at the former old horse-riding school on Triq it-Tigrija, Marsa. The victims had converted the stables into living quarters. 

Investigating inspector Kurt Zahra described the call to court when the compilation of evidence proceedings began on Monday before Magistrate Gabriella Vella.

Abela’s brother had spoken to the victim shortly before the incident and all appeared “normal", Zahra told the court.

But some month previously, his sister had told him about some issues concerning non-payment of rent by their tenants, without mentioning any names, the relative later told police investigating the double murder. 

Another female relative of Bartolo received a call from Carmen Abela at 9.16am, urging them to go to their assistance because “a dark-skinned person had assaulted them.” 

Four minutes after that call, she dialled the police emergency number and was just telling the operator that they were being attacked by a "dark-skinned man" when there was “banging and screaming and the line suddenly went dead,” Zahra said. 

Struggle after taser

Zahra rushed to the crime scene after information from the control room and the Ħamrun district police flagged the presence of a “knife-wielding man” in the vicinity of Triq it-Tigrija, Marsa, near the old horse-riding school. 

When Zahra arrived, Iddrisu had been arrested and was face down on the ground, handcuffed at the back. He was still putting up a struggle even after being tasered, the inspector said.

Following the violent attacks, Iddrisu had jumped over a high gate bordering the premises from a service centre next door and when police forced their way through the gate, the suspect resisted arrest. 

A police officer suffered facial injuries in the scuffle. 

Putting on protective gear so as not to contaminate the crime scene, Zahra then headed to the building where the murders allegedly took place. 

A door leading to the victims’ own living quarters was partly smashed. 

Bodies found

A woman’s lifeless body was blocking the way. 

It was Abela, in green t-shirt and tight black shorts, her feet towards the broken door, her head lying close to an inner brick wall. 

There were blood smudges around her and her hand still clasped her mobile phone.  

Right next to her, lay Bartolo, face upwards, in a light-blue top and underwear.

There was a large gash and a lot of blood over and beneath the man’s body, recalled Zahra. 

Inside a bedroom, there were more traces of blood.

There were also drops of blood in one of the rented rooms where Zahra also spotted a pink suitcase. 

A Nigerian woman, who lived in that room was also attacked by Iddrisu in the early morning rampage, the court heard.

A 'metre long' bolt cutter

The woman later recounted how she had just got up and was brushing her teeth when she was dealt a blow on the back of her head. 

She fell to the floor, her screams alerting her brother who rented another room nearby. 

He rushed to her assistance just in time to spot their fellow-tenant, Iddrisu, wielding a “large iron rod.”

Iddrisu turned upon him, striking him on the head too. 

“If you have some issue, take it up with the landlords,” shouted the stunned man, as he grappled with Iddrisu, trying to grasp the weapon. 

He finally managed to knock it out of the aggressor’s hands, just as officers from the mounted police headquarters across the road, drove up in their Landrover. 

One of the officers grasped the iron item and secured it safely in the police vehicle. 

The aggressor was finally arrested as Rapid Intervention Unit police turned up for assistance. 

Asked by parte civile lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Franco Debono about the weapon, Zahra described it as a bulky and heavy bolt cutter, “almost a metre long” normally used to cut through metal mesh. 

Asked by defence lawyer Joe Brincat whether that instrument had been taken to the murder scene or was already there prior to the incident, Zahra said that that point was still to be determined. 

However, eyewitnesses alerted by the banging and screaming had confirmed seeing that weapon in the accused’s hands. 

The case continues. 

Inspectors Zahra and Wayne Camilleri are prosecuting together with AG lawyers Kaylie Bonett and Ramon Bonett Sladden. Legal aid lawyer Julia Micallef Stafrace is also defence counsel.