The jury hearing the case of the murder of Sion Grech have begun to deliberate their verdict.

The jurors withdrew to reach a verdict on the 2005 murder after an 11-day trial on Friday morning.

52-year-old Ismael Habesh from Libya and 55-year-old Faical Mahouachi from Tunisia are accused of murdering Grech, a sex worker, in April 2005.

The jury heard of how Grech was stabbed 17 times before being left in a field in Marsa, where she was found after a number of days in an advanced state of decomposition.

Medico-legal expert Dr. Mario Scerri told jurors that Grech had not been killed in the field where her body was found. The victim had suffered many cuts and stab wounds all over her body - she had been stabbed in her knees, genitals, breasts, neck and head - but most of the wounds were concentrated on and above her chest.

In a twist to the case, the prosecution in their closing address asked the jurors not to find guilt on the second and third heads of indictment, which relate to the use of a knife in a homicide and the lack of a permit to carry the knife.

The reason, it was explained, was an oversight by the prosecution which meant that the men had been indicted for offences which had not yet been introduced at the time the murder took place.