A man who earlier this week was declared as having been sane when he stabbed his wife to death in September 2005 at St Luke’s Hospital yesterday appealed against a judgement whereby the court ordered the continuation of criminal proceedings against him.

Anthony Schembri, 62, from Birkirkara, is claiming that he was in a state of insanity when he killed his wife Doris in her bed at the hospital but a panel of jurors decided that he was sane.

Mr Schembri’s defence lawyers Anglu Farrugia and Edward Gatt based their appeal on three fundamental legal points.

Firstly, the defence lawyers are claiming that the jurors’ decision was incorrect since a panel of psychiatrists appointed by the court had reached the professional conclusion that their client was in a state of insanity when he committed the murder.

Secondly, the defence lawyers argued that they had managed to prove, at least to the extent expected from them according to law (the prosecution has to prove beyond reasonable doubt while the defence has to prove their points on possibilities) that their client had not been in a state to know what he was doing that day.

Lastly, the defence lawyers raised the subject of mistakes made on the part of the judge which, they claimed, prejudiced their client. They said that the jurors had been informed about a previous criminal case against Mr Schembri, which might have affected their decision. They said the judge had incorrectly turned down their request for this information to be omitted.

In addition to this, in its summing up, the prosecution used this case – that occurred in 1991 – to say that the accused had been thinking about killing his wife since that day, thereby insinuating that the murder had been premeditated.

Dr Farrugia and Dr Gatt signed the writ.