Entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti was still conscious and coherent but in a state of haemorrhagic shock when he was rushed to hospital, minutes after being stabbed outside one of his Paceville establishments.

The fast-paced action by paramedics that kicked off the minute that the emergency call about the incident came through, was recalled by medical doctors during the trial by jury of Bojan Cmelik on Thursday.

The 39-year old Serb stands accused of murdering the 52-year old businessman on July 6, 2018, on St Rita Steps where the victim was seated with his brother celebrating the launch of a seafood bar.

Consultant emergency physician Jonathan Joslin was the first to take the witness stand, recalling how he first saw the victim at Mater Dei Hospital emergency department at 10.54pm, minutes after the call from the central control room.

Chetcuti was conscious and still talking coherently although pale, sweaty and in a state of shock.

He was whisked off to the resuscitation room where an emergency trauma team moved quickly to assess the situation.

Victim lost some three-fifths of his blood

The patient had two stab wounds in the abdomen and everything, including his low blood pressure, indicated he was in a state of haemorrhagic shock, having probably lost some three-fifths of his blood.

His situation was classified as class 3 shock, on a scale where class 4 was the maximum.

A fast scan ultrasound, as well as a distended abdomen indicated internal bleeding, meaning there was no time for other checks as the situation was critical and called for immediate surgery to stop the blood loss.

The lower wound was “oblique,” indicating that it had been caused by a sharp instrument with a single cutting edge that penetrated the body at an oblique angle.

The other wound in the upper left quarter of the abdomen was c-shaped, indicating that either the victim had moved or the knife twisted upon entry, explained Joslin.

Photos of those wounds were taken by the emergency specialist himself and later handed over to forensic experts.

Those images were also circulated among the jurors.

Emergency medic Josef Mifsud said Chetcuti was agitated, anxious, had a fast pulse and very low blood pressure. Mifsud had carried out the fast scan ultrasound which showed a ‘black mass’ indicating “free fluid” inside the patient’s body.

He must have lost some 30% to 40% of his blood and a laparotomy was necessary to stop the bleeding.

By 11.15pm Chetcuti had been rushed to the operating theatre where surgeon Ayman Mustafa and his trainee assistants took over.

All three medics also testified separately, giving a detailed explanation of the procedures conducted at the operating theatre that night.

After first removing the “huge amount of blood” they could determine the source of the bleeding.

Three perforations in the small intestines were sutured and within some 10 to 15 minutes the bleeding had stopped, recalled Mustafa.

Then followed a lengthy “walkthrough” of physically checking each internal organ and all the intestines, segment by segment, “squeezing” to see if there was any leak from the stitches or any other hole they might have missed.

Asked for clarification by Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja, higher surgical trainee Jeremy Fenech confirmed the physical examination of the entire length of intestines.

A second assistant, Stefan Zammit, who was a basic specialist trainee at the time, described his role in the surgery that was already underway when he entered the theatre.

The bleeding had been stopped by means of “clips” on the holes that were subsequently sutured.

The trial continues.

AG lawyers Kevin Valletta and Maria Francesca Spiteri are prosecuting.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is legal aid counsel.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Mario Spiteri are appearing for the family.