The jury in the judicial process of Salvatore (Silvio) Mangion yesterday evening delivered the verdict that the man, charged with the murder of Maria Stella Magrin, is for the third time, fit to stand trial.

After 20 hours of submissions and testimonies, the jury returned with an 8-1 verdict that the accused was not insane at the time of the crime and a 7-2 verdict that he can understand and follow proceedings against him now and is therefore fit to stand trial.

The compilation of evidence against the accused was stalled in 2010 when he claimed insanity and is now expected to resume.

For the prosecution, represented by Dr Nadine Sant on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office: “This is a case of a cold blooded murder and nothing else”.

Mr Mangion, a convicted serial killer, was on Tuesday said to have brutally murdered an elderly woman after stealing Lm6,000 from her in 1986, to permanently silence her. She was his third victim and Mr Mangion is serving life imprisonment after conviction in two other cases.

Mr Mangion, together with two other men who have since died, had entered into Maria Stella Magrin’s residence in Cospicua, asked her for money and then killed her. The woman, 68, was found dead in a pool of blood and it later transpired that she had suffered 13 stab wounds.

Making her submissions, Dr Sant said the judicial process was being held because the prosecution had not accepted the first report which the three appointed psychiatrists had presented. This said the accused was insane at the time of the crime and in 2010, when the report was submitted.

The defence counsel never contested the first report and with regard to the second report – submitted last month and which contradicted the first, Dr Sant said neither the prosecution nor the defence can speak negatively about it because no one has contested it.

What interests the jury is whether at this point he is sane or not, she said. Describing the second report she added this was not a bad one but not up to the professional level expected of the psychiatrists.

“Is he an insane person or witty, who knows the system here and what goes on?” she said. “We know the difference between right and wrong since we are children and we try to hide wrong actions. So what we have here is abuse of the legal system because he understands that each time he can declare himself insane proceedings will be stalled”.

Referring to the defence counsel’s submissions, she noted the lawyer cannot say from now that he will again declare himself insane when the compilation continues, because he cannot know what his state of mind will be then.

“The prosecution is not arguing on the fact that he kept changing his train of thought when speaking to the psychiatrists but on the fact that he has a train of thought,” she said.

From the testimony of chief investigator Chris Pullicino, it transpired the murder had been planned for a week. Dr Sant said this meant the intent was there. The accused knew where he was going, with whom, and how the crime was to be executed.

He also remembered the registration number of the car used on the day of the crime, 19 years later, when the police interrogated him about the case after Mr Mangion spoke about it to an informer. According to Dr Sant, he remembered all the details because his brain was sharp and not at all imbalanced.

Speaking earlier, defence counsel Simon Micallef Stafrace said the court heard that the accused had done many things that do not make sense. A case in point is the fact that two years ago he went up to the police inspector leading investigations and informed him he wanted to declare insanity.

Noting he has known Mr Mangion for a long time, the lawyer pointed out the accused has a history of mental problems, contrary to the impression given by the psychiatrists in their “defective report”, which included no complex reference to the mental health history of the accused. He has been in and out of Mount Carmel hospital, receiving treatment for his illnesses, for the past 16 years and for the past seven years, he has been a permanent resident there.

Since 1996, he has been suffering from schizophrenia.

Dr Micallef Stafrace added that if after this judicial process he is not declared mentally unstable and the compilation against him continues, then he will again raise the point of insanity.

In the morning, after studying documents related to the case and statements the accused gave, the three psychiatrists nominated in 2010 and again last month to report on his mental health said it was hard to determine for sure his mental state in 1986. However, they had no concrete evidence that he was mentally ill when he committed the crime.

On Tuesday, the court heard that when re-examined in June, Mr Mangion was fit to stand trial.