Alleged assailant threw himself in front of truck - witness

A Zejtun man charged with stabbing his wife tried to throw himself in front of a moving truck and then threw himself over the bonnet of a moving car soon after the incident, a court heard yesterday.

Charles Farrugia explained how he ran out into the road after hearing a woman shout and saw Paul Caruana standing in the middle, confused and crying, but when he tried to calm him down Caruana ran away and he followed him.

"I saw him stand still by the side of the road as the truck drove towards him. I had no idea what he had in mind but when the truck got closer he walked head-on into it.

"Surprisingly, the truck driver managed to brake in time. But Paul then saw a car drive towards him and, before I could grab him, he threw himself onto it and fell to the ground. Luckily, he was not injured," Farrugia said.

He testified before Magistrate Lawrence Quintano in the compilation of evidence against Caruana, 31, who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill his wife Sandra with a cutting instrument and seriously injuring her in Zejtun on June 12.

Caruana is also charged with two counts of the illegal possession of a cutting instrument and breaching the peace.

Farrugia explained that he owned a garage next door to Caruana's and he had known him for about 14 years.

He said that lately Caruana was not the man he used to know and explained that he had become very troubled and distracted and had lost a lot of weight.

He added that some time ago, Caruana had asked him to read a message on his wife's mobile phone since he was illiterate. The message said something on the lines: "Do you still have trouble?"

Mario Ellul, who was in Caruana's garage at the time of the incident, said he ran out of his garage and after Caruana, with Farrugia. He confirmed seeing Caruana run into a truck and a car.

Ellul said he had often gone to Caruana's house and seen him cook or wash the floor while the children played in the road but his wife was never around.

Earlier, Caruana's nephew, Charlot Azzopardi, said he was working in the garage when he heard his aunt Carmen Mifsud shout and ran outside and saw Caruana in a state of panic - shivering, confused and in tears.

He, too, said that Caruana seemed to have become very troubled, so much so that his family was worried that he might do something to hurt himself. He said that, although Caruana was reserved, two days before the incident he had told him he suspected his wife was having an affair.

He said that Caruana's daughters, aged eight and six, were sometimes left home alone while his wife went shopping or to the beach to relax.

There were times when the girls called his house to check if their mother was there and they also called their father to ask him to go home because they were alone, he said.

Sandra Caruana's sister, Carmen Mifsud, said that on June 12 her sister picked her up and they went to the Zejtun primary school to check if the children were there but they were not.

Her sister then drove towards Caruana's garage to check on the children.

They parked in front of the garage and Caruana came outside and asked Mifsud to get out of the car so he could speak to his wife in private.

"I got out and stayed near the driver's window, close to the car, from where I heard Paul ask Sandra to make up. She replied that she was not ready to because she was the one who had been beaten," Mifsud said.

"But then my mobile rang and I crossed the road to answer it. Suddenly I looked at the car and saw my sister in the back seat and Paul was there too. That was when I heard her shout that he was hitting her.

"I ran over to the car, grabbed him from his T-shirt, pulled him out of the car and called for help. He had a knife in his hand and blood on his face," she said.

Mifsud said that when Caruana was being restrained by some four men he kept trying to assault her sister.

She went on to explain that she drove her sister to the Paola health centre and then to hospital where she was operated.

Sandra Caruana testified behind closed doors.

At the end of yesterday's sitting Caruana was granted bail against a deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm3,000 each.

Magistrate Quintano ordered Caruana not to speak to his wife or any other witnesses of the prosecution and not to go anywhere near Siggiewi, where his wife was living.