Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual violence that some readers may find disturbing.

Paulina Dembska was fully conscious as she was being tortured, raped and beaten, knowing that she was going to die, a forensic doctor told a court in shocking testimony on Friday. 

Mario Scerri testified that 29-year-old was a strong woman who put up a fight as her aggressor grabbed her by the hair, beat her and pressed hard on her neck. 

Despite the violent assault, the Polish student managed to inflict injuries on her aggressor, causing lesions compatible with the struggle, Scerri said. 

The forensic medical expert was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Abner Aquilina, who stands accused of the January 2022 murder on the Sliema promenade. 

Photos of the victim seen by parte civile lawyer Stefano Filletti while cross-examining the expert showed that Paulina had multiple bruises on the face, breasts, thighs when he examined her as she lay next to a ramp, naked from the waist down and legs apart. 

Paulina Dembska, the 29-year-old murder victim.

There were fractures in the neck bones, a rare occurrence indicating that “severe, powerful lateral manual pressure” had been applied, causing the lips to split as the aggressor pushed down on her mouth. 

The evidence showed that there was a struggle before she was pinned down.

A lateral abrasion on the neck was compatible with injury caused by the scarf she had been wearing. 

A tuft of her hair on the railing at the point where he grabbed her by the hair, pulling it from the roots and causing her headphones to fall.

Two wounds in her genital area showed forced penetration as the victim fought back.

She suffered nail and finger marks and injuries compatible with blunt trauma. 

“She got a hell of a beating,” [Qalet xebgha tajba], said Scerri. 

Dembska died of asphyxia caused by massive external pressure on the neck, that blocked the airways. 

He also said that she suffered neck fractures indicative of extreme force.  Scerri said that those bones are normally not fractured even when people hang themselves.

Her aggressor was clearly under the effect of psychosis when seen by Scerri.

He was fit to be detained but not fit to be interrogated and was later checked by a psychiatrist and taken to Mount Carmel Hospital. 

Psychiatrists who examined Aquilina at the court's request concluded earlier this year that he was insane at the time of the murder. That decision opened the door to the attorney general seeking an insanity trial. 

A different set of psychiatrists who were tasked with assessing whether or not Aquilina was mentally fit to stand trial told a court in September that they believed he could do so.

Inspector Wayne Camilleri is prosecuting the case, assisted by attorney general lawyers Anthony Vella and Darlene Grima.

Lawyer Mario Mifsud is defence counsel.  Lawyer Stefano Filletti is representing the victim's family.