Nizar El-Gadi browsed internet sites which featured articles on murder cases, data found on his computer shows, lead investigator Keith Arnaud testified in a trial by jury today. The computer belonged to the accused but Mr El-Gadi denied he browsed such sites and did not rule out that the computer was used by his former wife as well “who had an interest in following murder cases due to the nature of her work”.

Mr El-Gadi, 36, is accused of murdering his former wife Margaret Mifsud. She was found dead in her car in Bahar ic-Caghaq on the night between 18 and 19 April, 2012.

Mr El-Gadi told police his wife used to follow shows hosted by a lawyer who used to speak about murder cases and abuse. But investigators said that these were TV shows not online articles on murder cases.

Inspector Arnaud said that one article spoke about a father who killed his wife. When investigators asked Mr El-Gadi why he was so interested in such an article, Mr El-Gadi stuck to his version and denied having entered such sites.

Police asked El-Gadi how Dr Mifsud could gain access to his computer when one needed a password.

Me El-Gadi said that “her cousin Cain used to help her out to gain access and at one point I used to take the computer with me everywhere."

Computer data lifted from the murder victim’s computer showed that Dr Mifsud sent an e-mail to a friend of hers, expressing her frustration over the fact that she was having to put up with El-Gadi for the sake of the children.

In the email, Dr Mifsud also described her relationship with El Gadi as a “tragedy”.

Police asked Mr El-Gadi why he tried to portray a rosy picture about their relationship when emails showed their relationship was in a crisis. Mr El-Gadi said he could not understand why she wrote such e-mails about him.

Lawyer Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani is appearing for the accused while lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Kathleen Grima are appearing parte civile for the victim’s family.

***

Morning sitting

Things had got out of hand so much between murder victim Margaret Mifsud and her former husband Nizar El-Gadi in the two weeks leading to her murder that she only let her children communicate with their father through Skype, a court heard today.

She was forced to switch off her mobile phone due to the number of SMS messages he used to send her, something which was corroborated by the mother of the victim, lead investigator Keith Arnaud testified in the trial by jury.

Nizar El-Gadi did not tell the Birkirkara police sergeant who called him after the missing person report was filed that he saw Margaret last at 8pm on 18 April.

Dr Mifsud, who worked as a lawyer and who is the mother of El-Gadi’s two children, was found murdered on the night between 18 and 19 April. She died as a result of asphyxia after her killer applied heavy pressure on her chest.

The day after Margaret was murdered, El-Gadi still went to work despite the fact that he had been told by police that Margaret did not return to her mother’s home, Inspector Arnaud explained. It was the victim’s mother who had filed the missing person’s report.

“It was my first day of work, apart from the fact that I was not told that Margaret was missing, all I was told by police is that she did not return to her mother’s home the previous night,” El-Gadi told investigators when asked how come he was not concerned that Margaret was missing.