A 38-year-old mother of two was yesterday stabbed to death and her estranged husband was later found hanging at their Mqabba home.
Pauline Tanti was stabbed on the doorstep of her mother's home in Rabat, just as she was leaving for work at about 5 a.m.
Police sources said the husband, Gilju, 44, fled the scene and was found dead some hours later at the couple's residence.
Police had immediately mounted a search and found that after Mrs Tanti was stabbed three times in her abdomen, Mr Tanti had hung himself at his home in Nazzarenu Street.
Police investigations started immediately after the police received information that a woman was lying on the road in Barbara Street, Rabat. She was suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Mrs Tanti was taken to hospital in an ambulance where she was found to be in imminent danger of dying. Efforts to save her proved futile and she died later in the morning at the hospital's intensive care unit.
Speaking about the killing, Mrs Tanti's mother said at her home that her daughter had gone to live with her, together with her seven-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, two years ago.
The trouble between the couple started seven years ago, when their daughter was born, but the situation had become very difficult two years ago, so Mrs Tanti moved out.
The couple had been trying to work out their differences and were still on speaking terms. The night before the stabbing, Mr Tanti had joined the family at the feast of St Paul in Rabat and even bought his wife a drink.
Just one hour before she was killed, Mrs Tanti and her mother were happily chatting away about the day's events.
"Polly was preparing to go and open the shop, Neriku tal-Pastizzi, which is just up the road, as she usually does, and I had woken up to prepare Sunday lunch," she said.
"Polly left home at about 5 a.m., but 15 minutes later I got this strange feeling inside me that something was wrong so I decided to peep outside to see if she was OK.
"The second I opened the door I saw Polly sprawled on the ground. I started screaming for help. I tried talking to her, but she was unconscious," she said.
Mrs Tanti's mother said she never heard anything, not even a scream or shout for help from her daughter.
The mother said her daughter was a very dedicated mother and though she worked very hard at the shop, by noon she was usually off work, in time to meet her children.
Magistrate Joseph Cassar held an inquiry and appointed a team of court experts to draw up reports.