The Criminal Court yesterday ordered that the case file of a man accused of murdering his wife at St Luke’s Hospital in September 2005 be sent back to the the Court of Magistrates for the compilation of evidence against him to continue, now that a panel of jurors declared that he was not in a state of insanity when the incident took place.

The incident happened on 29 September 2005 at around midday when Anthony Schembri, 62, from Birkirkara, repeatedly stabbed his wife Doris to death in her bed at St Luke’s Hospital.

Two months later, during one of the sittings of the compilation of evidence against him, the man’s defence lawyers raised a legal point saying that their client was in a state of insanity when the incident took place.

A team of psychiatrists was appointed to evaluate the man’s mental condition before, during and after the incident. This team was brought to testify before a panel of jurors on Monday.

The psychiatrists said that according to their professional experience, Mr Schembri was in an utter state of insanity that day and could not differentiate between what was right and what was wrong.

However, the jurors returned with a verdict with which they declared that Mr Schembri was sane when he murdered his wife that day.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo, who presided over this case, ruled that following the jurors’ verdict, he was ordering that the case file be sent back to the Court of Magistrates for the continuation of the compilation of evidence before Magistrate Antonio Mizzi.

Dr Anglu Farrugia and Dr Edward Fenech, who are appearing for Mr Schembri, have declared that they will be appealing the judgement.