Roger Agius, 49 of Fgura, was this morning jailed for 31 years after he admitted in court yesterday to having fatally stabbed his estranged wife in Tarxien in 2009.

Agius had admitted having killed the mother of his three children with a butcher’s knife on a Tarxien bus stop.

He told the court yesterday that he was sorry and never meant to go so far as to commit murder. 

He yesterday insisted he only waited for her on the bus stop on her return from work to speak to her about their separation proceedings. He was under “pressure” because he believed his wife was having an affair and because she wanted to take his property in the separation settlement.

“I used to tell my children not to be like me, since I used to drink, and to be more like their mother... But when all this (the alleged affair and separation) happened I told them not to grow up to be like her, but to be like me, since I did not try to break up our family,” Mr Agius said, shortly after apologising for his actions. 

Testifying during the compilation of evidence in July 2009, Police Inspector Daniel Zammit had said Mrs Agius arrived in hospital with the knife – which had a 30cm blade – still stuck just under her left breast. She was immediately taken to surgery but died from a perforated lung.