Gheorghe Popa, the man accused of stabbing the daughter of former Prime Minister Don Mintoff and her son, was not wounded at the time of the incident, the son, Daniel Mainwaring, told the court today.

Popa is accused of holding Yana Mintoff Bland against her will, attempting to grievously injure her and slightly injuring her and Daniel Mainwaring with a sharp instrument. The incident is said to have taken place due to jealousy on behalf of Popa, who was in a relationship with Mintoff Bland. Popa is also being charged with carrying a weapon during the commission of a crime against a third party, carrying a knife in public without a police licence, attacking Mintoff Bland and her son with a knife, and uttering verbal threats.

He was found hiding in a tree after the incident took place last year, with five stab wounds.

Mainwaring told presiding magistrate Joe Mifsud this morning that his interaction with Popa was very brief, having left the room after being stabbed. He continued to say however that he would have noticed if Popa had multiple stab wounds. 

The prosecuting is arguing that Romanian's injuries were self-inflicted. Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia, representing the accused, called out Mainwaring's claim of hearing the scuffle from another room, and hearing the sound of a body slamming to the ground, while he was practising his ukulele. Mainwaring contended that he was not playing continuously, and had started and stopped many times. He said that roughly 30 seconds to one minute had elapsed before arriving at the scene. 

Valenzia recalled earlier testimony of Mintoff Bland's son where he said that he could hear his mother gasping and pleading for help, and knew that she was in a desperate situation. Mainwaring reconfirmed this today. 

He told the court that his decision to run to the scene was purely defensive, claiming that Popa was trying to kill his mother by stabbing her in the chest. 

Asked about which hand was used by Popa to wield the knife, Mainwaring could not recall for certain but thinks it was the right hand because of injuries suffered.

He said that Popa was an unstable person, that he lacked empathy and was very aggressive. He claimed that Popa was physically possessive of his mother, but that he never saw him commit an act of physical violence prior to this. 

Despite this, the witness said he never confronted his mother's partner because he found him to be unreasonable. 

Asked by Valenzia whether he ran into the room with something to help defend his mother, Mainwaring got flustered saying that this has been asked many times, and that the answer was no, he walked into the room, got stabbed and immediately left.

Lawyer Joe Giglio, on behalf of Mintoff Bland as parte civile, was told that all functional interactions between the three were in English. 

A police sergeant who took the statement from Popa on the day in question confirmed that an interpreter was not present for the statement. The sergeant also confirmed that there had been no difficulty communicating in English, and that Popa never asked for an interpreter. 

A crime scene officer confirmed blood samples were taken from the stairs, and not the bedroom. The officer confirmed that he could not just go and collect blood samples wherever he saw blood, when asked if he was given direction in collecting evidence. 

Police confirmed that the case was carried out as per standard practice. 
Dr Mario Scerri and Dr Marisa Cassar, who are forensic experts, will be testifying in the last hearing, in September, before the evidence submission part of the case is closed.