Marco Zarb, 23 from Birkirkara, is standing trial for allegedly trying to kill Ms Borg, who was his girlfriend at the time, by pushing her off the balcony and trying to strangle her in Gozo on 24 June 2001.

Mrs Borg took the stand yesterday and told all she knew regarding the incident. She said she was a few metres away from the flat when her daughter fell, or was pushed from the balcony. She said she did not witness the incident, but the accused came to tell her that her daughter had fallen off the balcony.

She went on to say that although Mr Zarb made her daughter wheelchair-bound, she could not say he was a bad man. “He used to live with us and even took care of my daughter’s baby,” she said.

Sitting in a wheelchair as a result of the incident, the shaken Ms Borg also testified in the trial of Mr Zarb.

“He grabbed my arm, twisted it and started pushing me towards the open balcony door. Next thing I knew I was on the ground, three storeys down,” said Ms Borg.

The couple had been together for four months and seemed to be having problems. She said she wanted to go up to Gozo for a holiday and try to solve the rift between them.

The victim said that as Mr Zarb was pushing her, she yelled, “What are you going to do? Leave me alone!” She explained she tried to stop him but did not manage. Ms Borg said she had been pregnant when she fell off the balcony and had lost the baby as a result of the fall. She said that Mr Zarb had never tried to strangle her before the incident. “Afterwards though, as I was lying on the ground, I felt two hands around my neck trying to strangle me,” she added.

During the cross examination, defence attorney Dr Chris Cardona asked the woman about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Simon and a Gozitan man named Joseph.

At the first sitting of the trial, the court heard that while the couple was in Gozo, Ms Borg had gone out with these other men and rejected Mr Zarb.

Ms Borg said she was phoning Simon while in Gozo, but she declined to reveal the nature of the calls, since it was a personal issue. She confirmed that she had gone out with Joseph on the day of the incident. “I had not told Marco, but then he saw us walking together,” she said.

The accused had been hurt by this and Ms Borg said she felt sorry after seeing how hurt he was. The witness confirmed she had told Mr Zarb, “You deserve this because you love me too much”.

The victim had wanted to break up her relationship with the accused because he was “an aggressive savage”, she said. She explained he was troubled and had told her he was going to jump off the balcony. “To encourage him, I told him, ‘no I will jump.’ I said this so he would not jump,” Ms Borg said.

Defence attorney Dr Chris Cardona suggested she had initially said she had jumped. Presiding judge, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono objected to this question because those were not her words. In hospital, the woman had said, “I fell.”

Dr Cardona said there was a chair in the balcony, not just the clothes-horse as other witnesses had said. He suggested Ms Borg used this chair to jump off the balcony.

When the victim’s mother took the stand she made an emphasis on this chair and said that evening there were no chairs in the balcony.

When prosecuting officer Dr Anthony Barbara announced he had no more evidence to present, presiding judge Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, defence attorneys Dr Chris Cardona and Dr Chris Soler began making their case.

The accused chose not to testify and give his version of events. Dr Soler said, “It does not make sense that a person would try to kill another person he claims to love.” He went on to claim that Mr Zarb did not intend to kill Ms Borg by throwing her off the balcony.

The trial continues today.