Hairstylist Alfie Rizzo was stabbed 17 times and a post-mortem indicated wounds to his face, neck and chest, the Criminal Court heard yesterday.

Rizzo was found dead in a pool of blood inside his salon in Gzira four years ago.

Aimem Said Giali El-Baden, a 21-year-old Libyan national, is facing a trial by jury charged with Rizzo`s murder at Alfie`s Salon in Sliema Road, Gzira, on February 4, 1998, at about 9.30 p.m.

He is also accused of stealing Lm30 and carrying a knife without having a licence.

Ray Azzopardi testified before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono that the victim`s wife had called him at work, at the Super One television studios, after her husband had failed to return home.

"I decided to go and look for him together with my colleagues and as we drove by the salon we noticed his car parked outside," Azzopardi said.

"The car was locked. We noticed that the door to the salon was ajar, so we pushed it open and called him. We walked in. All we saw was a body lying on the floor. We called him but he didn`t answer. The light was very dim and we could hardly see anything."

Azzopardi said Rizzo`s wife had called him at about 10.30 p.m. because she was worried as he had not returned home yet.

As Rizzo often went to the studios in the evening for rehearsals, the victim`s wife thought her husband might have been there.

"I called the Mediterranean Conference Centre as Rizzo was involved in a festival that was going on at the time but he was not there. I also called the hospital to make sure he had not been taken there.

"His wife called again at about 11.30 p.m. and informed me that he hadn`t arrived home yet. I decided to go and look for him and I asked my colleagues to accompany me," he said.

As Azzopardi and his colleagues, Sandro Kitcher, Mark Anthony Bayliss and Paul Attard, drove by the salon they saw Rizzo`s car parked outside. When they made their way inside the salon, they saw him lying on the floor and then called the ambulance and the police.

Azzopardi explained he was a good friend of the Rizzo family and knew the victim to be a good man.

Earlier, Police Inspector Mario Bonnici said that on the night between February 4 and 5 he was the duty officer at the Criminal Investigation Department and was informed that there had been a murder at Alfie`s Salon.

He went to the salon and made his way into an inner room where he saw Rizzo lying in a pool of blood on the floor near a black, curved sofa. The officer explained that he recognised Rizzo because he had often seen him on a programme on Super One TV.

Footprints on the salon`s floor indicated that someone standing in the blood had stepped out of it. The footprints had a particular pattern which indicated that the person was wearing some form of slippers.

The inspector spoke to the people who found Rizzo`s body and investigations into the case started. The outcome of the investigations led the police to believe that Rizzo had been killed by a Libyan man.

The police were contacted by a woman who said she had seen a Libyan man get into Rizzo`s car the week before his murder. The woman eventually identified the man to be a certain Mohammed Ramadam Salah and he was arrested from a Gharghur apartment.

Salah`s apartment was searched and a pair of shoes were found. The pattern on their sole matched the pattern of the foot- prints found on the scene of the crime. The shoes had no visible traces of blood and it was eventually established that they had nothing to do with the case, the inspector said.

Salah said he knew Rizzo and indicated other Libyans in his circle. This led to the arrest of a certain Ahmed and of the accused on February 14, in the evening.

During questioning, at police headquarters, Ahmed said he knew who had killed Rizzo. He explained how El-Baden and Ibrahim (Ramandan Ghamber Shnishah) had gone to his apartment where El-Baden washed his bloodstained hands. They told him that Ibrahim had instructed El-Baden to kill Rizzo for his money.

Ahmed said El-Baden had told him Rizzo had bit him on his left ring finger during the struggle.

The inspector explained that El-Baden had a wound on his ring finger and when he was questioned about it he solemnly admitted having stabbed Rizzo.

Under cross-examination, Inspector Bonnici said that on February 11, 1998, Mariella Camilleri, a nurse at St Luke`s Hospital, informed the police that a certain John Sant, who was rushed to hospital for taking a drug overdose, claimed he had killed Rizzo.

"The nurse said that in hospital, she asked Sant what happened to him but he could hardly speak so she gave him two pieces of paper to write on.

"On the first paper he wrote the letters `ALFE` which was interpreted to read `Alfie`. On the second paper he wrote: `ALFE. I killed him.` The two papers were then exhibited in court," the witness said.

"The next day I questioned Sant and he told me he was under psychiatric care. He said that on February 6 (1998) he was arrested for selling his passport to a Libyan man. At police headquarters, he was questioned about Rizzo`s murder.

"Sant said he panicked because he was investigated about a murder and so he decided to end his life. He said he wrote the words `ALFE. I killed him` in an attempt to tell the nurse that he tried to end his life because he was being investigated about Rizzo`s murder," the inspector said.

Inspector Bonnici said he got the impression that Sant was "mentally disturbed" when he questioned him. Sant told him he had no form of relationship with Rizzo.

Police Inspector Carmelo Magri recounted his involvement in the investigations. He said that after he had been informed that Rizzo was found dead in his salon he went on the scene and found Rizzo lying in a pool of blood.

A pair of Big Star jeans were found near the cash register which was closed but its key was twisted. Money hidden close to the cash register was still there, indicating that the murderer had no intention of burgling the salon.

The police also found Lm300 tucked away in Rizzo`s Mercedes parked outside the salon.

Inspector Magri said he was present during the autopsy when it was certified that Rizzo had died of 17 stab wounds on his face, neck and chest.

Police Superintendent Bertu Mula testified that when El-Baden was asked about the bite mark on his left ring finger he said it was caused while he was detained at Ta` Kandja. The officer said there was no record of the incident at Ta` Kandja.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Assistant Attorney General Dr Anthony Barbara is prosecuting.

Dr Joseph Mifsud is appearing for El-Baden.