The accused in the rape and murder of Paulina Dembska applied “unheard-of violence” to his unsuspecting victim, pathologist Mario Scerri has testified.

Readers are advised that the following descriptions of the crime might have a triggering effect.

Abner Aquilina, the man accused of the brutal murder, had managed to overcome the “strong woman” but applied blunt trauma to the face and upper chest in his aggressive assault.

Demsbka was attacked while tending to a cat colony at the Sliema Independence Gardens, early on 2 January this year.

“She suffered unheard-of violence, a true beating,” Scerri commented on the photos exhibited in court.

Scerri found a massive laceration on the neck, caused by scratches and very strong pressure from the accused when he strangled her with the scarf around her neck. A clump of her hair was found on the railing nearby where her headphones and shoes had been removed – the body was found naked with her legs open on the ground.

The injuries showed Dembska had been pinned down by Aquilina’s knees, and that he then forcibly penetrated her, evidenced by vaginal tears and seminal fluid found inside her.

Scerri said Dembska would have been conscious to the very end, struggling and fighting hard, as Aquilina had suffered defensive wounds.

“She knew she was dying,” Scerri said, pointing at the petechiae – the pinpoint, round spots that appear on the skin as a result of bleeding – in the eyes. “The cause of death was a broken neck... not even people who hang themselves break those bones,” the forensic expert said.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti is representing the parte civile.