Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono will finish his final summing up of the trial by jury of Paul Caruana, accused of attempted murder, this morning before allowing the jury to retire and consider its verdict.

Mr Justice Galea Debono began his summing up at 10.30am and finished at 5.30pm after both the defence and the prosecution made their final arguments yesterday.

Paul Caruana, 34, from Zejtun is standing trial for the attempted murder of his wife Sandra on 12 June 2003. He is also being charged with being in possession of a sharp and pointed instrument without a licence and being in possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.

Meanwhile, in his own summing up, senior counsel to the Republic Mark Said told the jury that the defence thesis of the accused having caused involuntary damage to his wife due to his mental state should be “thrown out”. He said that the case in question was a clear one of attempted murder. “It was voluntary and intentional,” he said.

Dr Said said that it might have been true that the accused might have been in a state because of his wife’s infidelity and that he had been threatened by her family. However, he said that this did not mean that the accused did not have the intention to kill his wife. “If he was going to drown, he was going to drag others down with him,” said Dr Said.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Manwel Mallia said that if his client wanted to kill and had the intention to do it, he would have done so when he was threatened by the victim’s family when they had locked him in a car. “This was clearly not a case of attempted murder,” said Dr Mallia. He said that the defendant was not the monster that the prosecution was attempting to portray him to be.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono will finish off his summing up this morning before sending the jury in to deliberate their verdict.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said prosecuted while Dr Emmanuel Mallia and Dr Giannella Caruana Curran appeared for the defence.