Michael Emmanuel, a 33-year old Ivorian national, was found by a jury as being guilty of murdering his partner Maria Lourdes Agius, 35, in September 2018 at her Paola apartment.

Agius, a mother of seven, was found dead in bed with heavy bruising around her neck.

Emmanuel was sentenced to life imprisonment after eight out of nine members of the jury found him guilty of the murder, and ordered to pay €9,840 in court expenses.

As soon as the sentence was delivered, the man knelt down, opened his arms and blew a kiss in the cross’s direction.

The victim’s mother, who used to live with the couple, had described a deteriorating relationship and various violent episodes between her daughter and the accused.

Emmanuel had turned up at the police station telling officers that his partner would not wake up from her sleep. When police visited the house, they realised she was dead.

Emmanuel was also unanimously found guilty of disobeying legal directives, something he had previously acknowledged.

Last but not least, he was unanimously found guilty of forging public, commercial, or private financial documents.

Emmanuel was subsequently charged with wilful homicide and in July 2019, his lawyers argued that he was legally insane at the time of the crime.

A psychiatrist who examined the accused had testified that Emmanuel had some delusions of grandeur and appeared paranoid about his partner, diagnosing him with acute psychosis.

Lawyer Anthony Vella described the murderer’s actions and a “heinous crime.”

He said that the victim had died in a "slow and painful" and "cruel" manner, he continued, adding that the accused has shown no remorse for what he had done throughout the trial.

Pushing for a harsher punishment - life imprisonment with solitary confinement – like the one given to the murderer of Paceville business owner Hugo Chetcuti, the court was told of how a strong message needed to be sent in such crimes of domestic violence.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace said that although the verdict was eight to one, this was still not an absolutely unanimous decision.

The trial was presided over by Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja.

Anthony Vella and Maria Francesca Spiteri from the Attorney General’s office prosecuted.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace served as legal aid counsel, whilst the victim's family was represented by lawyers Stephanie Caruana and Lara Dimitrijevic.