A Hungarian national has pleaded guilty to stabbing his partner to death in 2012, resulting in 25 years imprisonment.

The incident took place at an apartment in St Paul’s Bay. The accused, Laszlo Nandor Marton had initially denied the charges brought against him – that he wilfully murdered his Hungarian partner, Yvette Gajda.

He changed his plea to guilty last Monday.

Mr Marton was accused with the voluntary murder of his Hungarian partner and mother-of-two, Ms Gajda. Prosecuting Inspector Keith Arnaud had previously said in court that following the autopsy, it was found that the victim was stabbed more than 60 times with scissors. Meanwhile nine stab wounds were found on the accused as he tried to kill himself after he saw his partner in a pool of blood. The victim, Ms Gadja, died at the scene of the crime due to the wounds she suffered, resulting in massive blood loss.

It was said that the murder took place after an argument erupted between the accused and the victim. The courts heard how the victim grabbed a pair of scissors, which were snatched by Mr Marton, who proceeded to stab her on her head, neck, shoulders and back. The accused was arrested at the St Paul’s Bay apartment.

In his judgment, Judge Antonio Mizzi referred to a case from 2002 against Mario Camilleri, and noted that an admission of guilt prior to a trial by jury does not translate into a less harsh sentence. He said that this is further strengthened by the fact that the accused was caught at the scene of the crime.

In view of this, the Criminal Court imprisoned the accused for 25 years, and also ordered him to pay court expenses amounting to €6,450.

The accused told the police that he could not accept that the love of his life was seeing another man and had told him face to face that she wanted to go and live with him when he was initially interrogated.

“I found my partner of 10 years in the bed of Ahmed. Later I confronted her, and after saying that she is going to leave me, she told me that she will soon move in with him.”

After being arrested, the accused was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital suffering from serious, though non-life-threatening, injuries, and was later kept at Mount Carmel Hospital because of fear he would kill himself.

Magistrate Neville Camilleri, who had presided over the compilation of evidence, heard Inspector Arnaud testifying about the investigation. Tamara, who is the victim’s daughter, told the inspector that the accused was always jealous of her mother because he always believed that she had a relationship with Ahmed who used to live in the same apartment.

She had told Inspector Arnaud that it was nothing of the sort but she knew that the couple were always fighting about Ahmed and that Marton was very jealous of him. She had also said that on the night of the murder they went to sleep in another flat, which belonged to Ahmed, who was not there at the time.

She had said that early that morning she heard her mother shouting after the accused asked to speak to her. After a while she had heard her mother shouting and saying “please don’t do this, I have five children”, and a little while later all the shouting stopped.

She later saw her mother in a pool of blood. Meanwhile a certain Annabelle, the victim’s friend, told the Police that the couple had been fighting very frequently lately and a week before the incident the accused had grabbed her by the neck.