A magistrate yesterday heard how a Syrian man accused of killing a fellow national repeatedly hit him with a mallet, smashing his skull, before placing the unconscious victim in his vehicle and pushing it off the cliffs in Selmun.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani heard Police Inspector Christopher Pullicino explain how police investigations revealed that the victim, 29-year-old Ismail Ebdou Abod, died of a fractured skull and a successive cranial haemorrhage.

Inspector Pullicino was testifying during the compilation of evidence against 25-year-old tile-layer Ibrahim Alhmou who is accused of killing Mr Abod in Selmun on 30 July. Mr Abod’s lifeless body was discovered by two German tourists as they were walking down to the beach in Selmun.

A court expert appointed to analyse the damage sustained by Mr Abod’s car yesterday reported that the car was “beyond economic repair” and that the cost to repair the damage surpassed the car’s value.

Inspector Pullicino explained that at around 10am on 30 July, he was informed that a dead person was found in a car in suspicious circumstances in Selmun. He said he immediately went on site and noticed that the white car was splattered with blood on the outside. The inside was also covered with blood.

He said that in view of the damages sustained by the car, it was immediately obvious that the car had been pushed off the cliffs. He said he inspected the area from where it was believed that the car had been pushed and noticed a pool of blood which was covered with dust. He also noticed blood trails along the ground, apart from drops of blood.

Close to the car, he said, police found a bloodstained mallet which at that point of the investigation was believed to have been the murder weapon.

He said the police began their investigations and found that the car was registered in Ismail Ebdou Abod’s name. The police went to the address provided where they found a certain Lucy Cassar. She told police that she had been married to Mr Abod around six years previously but it only lasted for one month when she discovered that he had been married in Syria and also had children.

Some time later, the Police Control Room at the General Headquarters received an anonymous call from a woman asking about Mr Abod. The police traced the call and spoke to Carmela Buhagiar who said she was with Mr Abod the night before. She said that at around 9pm he received a call from someone who wanted to meet him near the university roundabout. The call, she said, lasted around five minutes because the person on the other end seemed quite insistent.

Inspector Pullicino said the police checked with several health centres and private hospitals to see if anyone had gone for treatment to injuries compatible with a fight but this resulted in the negative.

He said the police also checked the victim’s mobile phone and noticed that at 9.02pm, Mr Abod received a call from another mobile phone which lasted over five minutes. He said they traced the mobile phone number but it was not registered. However, through the mobile’s serial number, they still managed to trace the person using that number. He said the police sought and obtained an arrest warrant and soon later the suspect, now the accused, was arrested in Birzebbuga.

Inspector Pullicino explained that Mr Alhmou told police that the previous evening, he called Mr Abod asking him to meet him near the university roundabout to speak to him about work.

He told police that he met him there and a scuffle broke out when he asked the victim to lend him Lm200. He had already borrowed around Lm500 from Mr Abod before.

Mr Alhmou told police he argued with Mr Abod who, before leaving passed a nasty remark about his (Mr Alhmou) family. He followed him with his cousin’s car to Selmun where at one point they stopped the vehicles and continued their argument.

Inspector Pullicino said Mr Alhmou continued that he pushed Mr Abod to the ground and hit him repeatedly with a mallet that he had in his car.

He said when he was semi-conscious he put Mr Abod into his van and continued to hit him on the head with the mallet.

He said he put down the handbrake and pushed the vehicle off the cliffs.

After he pushed the car down, he noticed that he had left the mallet in the car so he went down to look for it but did not find it.

The inspector said that on impact, several things that were inside the vehicle ended up scattered on the ground below and the mallet was one of the items.

Inspector Pullicino said Mr Alhmou told police he discarded the SIM cards of both mobiles as well as his bloodstained clothes and washed off drops of blood on his cousin’s car (the one he was driving) with sea water some time before he was arrested.

At the end of yesterday’s sitting, Magistrate Padovani ruled that there was enough prima facie evidence for a bill of indictment to be issued against the accused.

Inspector Pullicino is prosecuting while Dr Joseph Giglio is appearing for the accused.