A police inspector has told a Gozo court that a man accused of murdering his partner last month had confessed to strangling her because he suspected her of cheating on him.

This emerged from testimony given by police Inspector Kurt Zahra before magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, as the compilation of evidence against 30 year old Lawrence Abina from Ghana got underway today.

Abina is accused of murdering 49 year-old Rita Ellul on February 26, inside an apartment in Għajnsielem, Gozo. He is denying the charges.

Zahra said the man had spontaneously confessed his guilt, whilst smoking a cigarette before entering the interrogation room.

The court was told that no external signs of violence were found on her body nor were any signs of a struggle found inside the apartment. However the autopsy conducted on the woman’s body, concluded that the cause of her death was asphyxiation due to pressure around the neck.

The inspector said Abina and the victim had been in a relationship and that Ellul would visit him in Gozo frequently,  spending time in Abina’s shared apartment. He said Abina had called the emergency services, telling them that he had found her dead in bed when he returned home from work and claiming to have last spoken to her at around 7am, before leaving for work.

After the autopsy established the cause of death, Ellul’s body was transported to Mater Dei Hospital for further tests which confirmed the autopsy’s conclusions. The police began their investigation into the homicide immediately after.

Investigators gathered CCTV footage and spoke to Abina’s employer, who told the police that the accused had arrived 45 minutes late for work on the day of the murder.

During his interrogation, Abina had claimed that there were no problems in his relationship with Ellul, saying that he loved her. He was confronted with a domestic violence report filed in 2020 by Ellul, which had led to criminal proceedings against him, which were still pending. 

Ellul had told the police that Abina had also been violent on previous occasions. Abina initially claimed it was a one-off incident but later admitted that both partners were accusing each other of being unfaithful.

The anonymous report was investigated and led to Abina being charged.

Inspector Zahra said that whilst waiting for a second interrogation session, Abina had asked to smoke a cigarette. It was then that he spontaneously confessed to killing Ellul whilst talking to Assistant Police Commissioner Sandro Gatt, who happened to be smoking there too.

Testifying, Gatt recalled telling Abina that he “was in big trouble” and that it would be better if he told the truth. Abina had then started to cry, telling Gatt that he had put his hands around her neck and pressed hard, before falling to his knees before the assistant commissioner and begging for help. Asked why he had killed her, Abina had replied that it was because she had been unfaithful to him, Gatt said.

Abina was taken straight to the interrogation room where he repeated his admission of guilt to Inspector Zahra in a recorded interview. Abina had also said that he had started thinking about murdering Ellul the previous evening, because he was unable to stand the thought of Ellul going back to Malta to meet other men.

The accused told the inspector that on the morning of the murder he had got out of bed and got dressed for work, kissing the victim goodbye. But as he was walking out, he said he felt “something pulling him back”. Abina climbed on top of the victim, who was still in bed, put his hands around her neck and strangled her.

Abina told his interrogators that while strangling the victim, he had considered stopping, but concluded that she would call the police if he didn’t kill her.

The inspector said that after admitting to the murder the accused’s demeanour had changed from assertive to apologetic and remorseful.

The court was told that the police had also spoken to the victim’s best friend, Joyce, who told them about the couple’s frequent fights and violent incidents. Joyce told the police that she feared that he was going to kill her. The woman had also claimed that Ellul knew Abina had been unfaithful to her, so she had made up a story about texting a fictitious man she called Stefan, to make him jealous.

Cross-examined by the defence, the inspector said that Abina had spoken to a lawyer prior to his interrogation but that the lawyer had not been present during questioning.

The case continues next week.

Lawyer Joseph Grech represented the accused.

Lawyers Anthony Vella and Nathanial Falzon from the attorney general's office and inspectors Kurt Zahra, Josef Gauci and Wayne Camilleri prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri appeared parte civile on behalf of the victim's family.