A woman whose remains were only discovered after 12 years, had been reported missing by the sister of her then-boyfriend just three hours after she last saw her, it emerged in court on Monday. 

Questioned on why she felt the need to report her missing after such a short while, Abigail Tanti said it was not normal for Charlene Farrugia to miss an appointment or leave her children outside the house upon their return from school. She said she had called the police and they suggested she files a report. 

Tanti was testifying in the compilation of evidence against John Paul Woods, who stands accused of murdering the 25-year-old in November 2008. The case remained unsolved until last year, when Woods allegedly confessed to the crime when questioned about an armed robbery.

Acting on information provided by Woods, police officers searched a section of Valletta’s bastions and found human remains which were later identified as Farrugia’s. 

Woods told officers that he had stabbed Farrugia and choked her inside his St Paul’s Bay apartment. He had then allegedly dismembered her and mixed her body parts with cement in sacks, which he dumped in a skip. He hid her head and legs in a secluded spot close to the Valletta bastions. 

Farrugia’s car had been recorded entering Valletta on CCTV but it never appeared to leave. Police believe the car may have been used to carry her body.

The accused subsequently gave police a different version of events, telling interrogators that other sacks had been placed outside his door and taken by Jesmond Cassar, who Woods alleged was behind the murder. 

At the time, Tanti was dating Cassar, and Farrugia was dating her brother, Jonathan Attard, who was in jail serving time for a crime.

His two boys lived with Farrugia in St Paul’s Bay. They were outside the apartment on November 8, 2008, when, together with Cassar, she went to pick up Farrugia to go out.

They had been together just three hours earlier. 

Tanti said she managed to get Farrugia’s parents’ number but they did not know where she was, so she proceeded to report her missing. 

Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia cautioned Tanti prior to her deposition, after she learnt, through her lawyer Lucio Sciriha, that the police had interrogated her four times in connection with the case.

He had asked whether the prosecution would declare that no criminal action was planned. 

Superintendent James Grech, who is prosecuting, said there were no such plans, but he could not rule out prosecution if the police received fresh information about her possible involvement. 

Lawyer Roberta Bonello Felice, appearing for Woods, pressed Tanti on whether she and Cassar had been together the entire day, but she could not remember.

She also insisted that she acted on police recommendation when asked why she had worried about Farrugia so much as to file a missing person report after just three hours. 

Apart from murdering Farrugia, Woods also stands accused of holding the woman against her will, destroying evidence, hiding a dead body, carrying an unlicensed knife in public, receiving stolen goods and relapsing. He is currently serving a seven-year jail term for attempted robbery and breach of probation.

The case continues on December 21.