The witness, Fleur Cilia, lives in the flat below Ms Scicluna’s and yesterday confirmed she had seen Schembri stab Ms Scicluna in the presence of their seven-year-old daughter.

Schembri, 28 from Sliema, is accused of fatally stabbing Josette Scicluna in her San Gwann apartment on 3 May. At the previous sitting, prosecuting inspectors Chris Pullicino and Mario Tonna told the court that two of Ms Scicluna’s neighbours had seen the accused stab the woman while their seven-year-old daughter was still in the room.

Ms Cilia was one of the neighbours who witnessed this shocking scene. She explained she was still shaken by what she had seen. Under oath, she told the court she had heard a child screaming and had seen Ms Scicluna’s young daughter jumping up and down as Schembri was crouching down, stabbing her mother.

The witness grabbed the little girl and went to the apartment of another neighbour, Chantal Candoo Cali. As she left, she said to the accused: “David stop. Stop – please!”.

After calling an ambulance, Ms Cilia peered out of Ms Candoo Cali’s front door and saw Schembri leave the flat covered in blood and arranging his hair. He then said: “Now you can call the police,” before going down the stairs.

After the accused left, Ms Cilia explained she had stayed with the victim, who was lying in a pool of blood, until the paramedics arrived. Ms Scicluna’s speech was slurred and she was trying to get up but kept falling, the witness continued.

When asked whether she could identify the weapon, the witness said she had not seen what Schembri was stabbing Ms Scicluna with. She had seen him from the back and only saw his hand move up and down repeatedly. “The motion was very fast,” she said “I did not manage to see what was in his hand.”

The other neighbour who took the stand at yesterday’s sitting, however, said she saw Schembri stab Ms Scicluna with a pointed knife. The room was covered in blood as the victim was bleeding profusely. She had been stabbed in different parts of her body, including the genital area, said Chantal Candoo Cali.

“He was hitting her directly,” she continued, and as the accused left the apartment block he looked calm and collected. His chest area was covered in blood and he was carrying something the witness could not identify.

Upon questioning, both women said the victim was a reserved woman who did not often speak of her relationship with the accused. Ms Cilia said the last time she saw Schembri at the apartment before the incident was on Easter Sunday, when he passed by to pick up his belongings.

After this, the victim told Ms Cilia: “David is going crazy because he is asking for a pair of leather trousers I do not have”. At the previous hearing, it was mentioned that the accused had made his mind up to get these trousers back from Ms Scicluna’s flat at all costs.

The witnesses also clarified that Schembri did not live with the victim. “She lived in the apartment with her seven-year-old daughter,” they both said.

At yesterday’s hearing defence attorney Edward Gatt spoke on behalf of the accused and claimed he did not contest the application filed by Police Commissioner John Rizzo regarding an unauthorised telephone call he made to his daughter last Sunday.

Inmates being held in preventative custody are only allowed to call certain numbers. The accused called his seven-year-old daughter last Sunday without authorisation and among other things said to her: “I am sorry about what happened.”

Sergeant Bernard Zahra, stationed at Corradino Correctional Facility, confirmed that the telephone call had been made by Schembri. The court ordered the facility’s director to restrict the accused’s access to telephones and not allow him to call his daughter at her grandparents’ house.

Presiding Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera also ordered that there must be no physical contact between the accused and his daughter before she testifies in court at a later stage in the proceedings.

The doctors who attempted to save Ms Scicluna’s life also testified yesterday and confirmed that the woman’s heart had stopped beating on the way to hospital.

The case continues later this week.