A well-built man who broke into his partner's apartment after shooting five times at her door, hit her with a chair and then fatally stabbed her 49 times in front of their seven year old daughter, went on some five hours later to ask the police to let him go to sleep, a court heard yesterday.

Inspectors Chris Pullicino and Mario Tonna, who investigated the case, recounted chilling details about the murder in the compilation of evidence of David Norbert Schembri, who stands charged with having murdered 32-year-old Josette Scicluna.

He stands further charged with being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and firing it while committing a crime, and with relapsing.

Schembri, 28, is pleading not guilty. He appeared calm as he listened carefully to the police recounting details about what happened when the murder took place on May 3, and their subsequent investigation.

Inspectors Pullicino and Tonna said that on May 3, neighbours heard shots and screams coming from the apartment where the victim lived and called an ambulance and the police.

At the same time the ambulance arrived, the accused, whose hands, face, top and jeans were drenched in blood, went to the police station at San Gwann and told the policewoman on duty that he had had an argument with his partner and he "had done something he should not have done" and that she had to hide him to protect him from her relatives.

Insp. Tonna said there was so much blood on the accused's clothes that even his underwear was soiled with it. The inspector said the victim was found lying in a pool of blood in a confined space between the fridge and the cupboard and when the ambulance arrived, she was still conscious but passed out while she was being taken to hospital. In spite of medical interventions, she was certified dead some 45 minutes later.

Insp. Tonna said the door of the flat had five bullet holes and the lock was broken, indicating that there was a forced entry. An old, chrome plated .38 revolver and a blood soiled 12-inch blade of a knife with a broken handle was found inside the flat.

Insp. Pullicino said the seven-year-old daughter told the police that she had heard banging on the door, her mother asked who was knocking and suddenly her father was inside with a gun in his hand and he started hitting her mother with a chair.

Insp. Pullicino said one of the neighbours had gone up to the victim's flat when she heard the shooting and screaming and saw Josette Scicluna in a pool of blood. She told the police she took the young girl away and told the accused "to stop it".

Another neighbour told the police she saw the accused stabbing the victim, then run downstairs. She followed him and went to call an ambulance and the police.

Insp. Pullicino said the autopsy revealed the victim had 49 stab wounds, some of which were deep. The victim had died of a neck wound.

He said the accused had a smell of alcohol but a breathalyser and blood test proved negative. A psychiatrist had also examined the accused and after reporting to the magistrate, the police were given the go ahead to continue with his interrogation.

Insp. Pullicino said the accused said he knew the victim for about 10 years and her father was unhappy with him and caused them a lot of problems. Nevertheless, the victim had moved in with him in his flat at Sliema and they eventually moved to San Gwann. Their relationship had ended a few months before because of her father and he had been phoning her as he wanted to take his clothes, among which there was a pair of leather trousers worth Lm100.

On the day she was killed, he had made up his mind to take the clothes "at all costs" and had walked all the way from the Sliema police station, where he went to sign the bail book, to the flat in San Gwann.

Insp. Pullicino said that at about 11.30 p.m., that is some five hours after the murder, the accused told the police he wanted to go to sleep and the police continued with their interrogation the following morning.

The inspector said the accused told police that his wife had opened for him and tried to "hit him with something" but he wrestled with her and took the "thing" from her hand and stabbed her with it.

The inspector said the accused avoided questions about what he stabbed her with and insisted he did not know, but did not rule out it was a knife.

WPC Joan Bonello, who was stationed at San Gwann police station, testified that Schembri walked into the police station, sat down on the bench and calmly told her he had had an argument with his partner and "did something he should not have done".

She said she called the St Julians police station and a police sergeant came within eight minutes, during which time she tried to keep a conversation with the accused, and convinced him to stay as he wanted to go back to the flat.

Defence lawyer Edward Gatt requested the court to order the police to collect some bullets from a private yard situated close to the flat. These bullets had not been collected by the police and could show that his client had more ammunition than he had used, Dr Gatt said.

The court ordered a court-appointed expert to carry out an on site inquiry yesterday evening to collect the bullets in the presence of the accused and the police.

The case continues.