Couple testify in their defence

A married couple - who, together with their son, are standing trial for the murder by omission of 18-year-old Rachel Bowdler - yesterday took the witness stand in their defence and told jurors they did all they could to help the young woman and never thought she would die.

Carmel Decelis explained how he found Ms Bowdler lying unconscious on the sofa at his wife's Bugibba apartment after their son, Jason, called him in a panic and asked him to go there.

In her testimony, his wife Concetta explained how she got into the picture when she returned home from work to find her son and husband caring for the unconscious young woman.

"Whatever we did, we never did it to kill her. I would not even kill a rabbit let alone a young woman. We did all we could," Mr Decelis said.

He was later echoed by his wife - the two are now separated - who said: "I had no intention of killing the girl or of letting her die... I did not call an ambulance or the authorities just as I never called them when my son (Jason), my own flesh and blood, fell unconscious after taking drugs... I looked after her as though she were my own daughter even though I never saw her before," she said.

Carmel and Concetta Decelis, both 57, and their son Jason, 29, are pleading not guilty to the voluntary homicide of Ms Bowdler when they dumped her, when she was in a critical condition, in a field in an area known as Ras Il-Gebel, in the limits of Mgarr on May 13, 2001.

Sniffing and with tears in his eyes, Carmel Decelis was the first family member to tell jurors what happened on the day.

He said he was in St Julians when his son called him, sounding worried, and asked him to go to his mother's apartment. The first thing he thought was that he may have beaten his mother as it was not the first time he "lost it" after taking drugs.

"When I walked into the flat I saw a young woman lying on the sofa and frothing from the mouth... Jason was crying. I know my son inside out and know that he had taken drugs in the past but he said he did not give her any. I thought that if I wet her face and chest she would come back to her senses just as my son had on previous occasions," he said as his voice broke.

Then at 10.30 p.m., his wife returned home from work and he left to his Pietà apartment where he spent the night worried about what he had witnessed. The following morning at about 6 a.m. he phoned his wife to see if the young woman was alright and his wife told him she was.

He went to the Bugibba apartment to see for himself and to speak to his son but there he found that the situation was the same as he had left it. Ms Bowdler was breathing at a slower rate and not salivating as much and he started wetting her face again.

Then, his wife left for work and, soon after, he noticed that Ms Bowdler was no longer breathing. "We panicked. Jason started crying and I told him to call his mother and tell her to come back. I sat on the sofa and started crying. I was very sorry for what had happened. I tried all I could to bring her back to her senses...

"I did not take any decisions... 15 minutes later we took her downstairs. Jason and I carried her down the stairs. He placed her in the back seat of my car and sat next to her. Connie sat in the passengers' seat and I drove to a place indicated to me by my son who then carried her out of the car. On our way back my wife stopped to call the ambulance," he testified before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono.

"I didn't know how serious the situation was... There was no time to phone the ambulance... We wished she would come back to her senses in the apartment and not at hospital. I was scared that Jason would turn violent or commit suicide and I wanted to make sure there would be no reason to go to the police."

Concetta Decelis explained how on the day of the incident she got home after a day's work to find an unconscious young woman on her sofa.

"I asked my son several questions such as if he had given her any drugs and he told me he did not give her anything and that if she had had something it was before she arrived at the flat."

Mrs Decelis explained how her son had lost consciousness in a similar way before and to her, Ms Bowdler - who she had never seen before - was in the same state as her son had been on three or four occasions.

"To me she was in a deep sleep and was wheezing and salivating. I did exactly what I did when my son was in her state; I did not move from her side for one second," she said.

She had no intention of calling the ambulance or involving the police and this because to her there were no sign that the young woman, like her son had before her, was going to die.

The witness said that the following morning she went to work and left Ms Bowdler with her son and husband who had come back to her apartment. But soon after she arrived at work her son phoned and asked her to go back home. When she arrived Ms Bowdler was no longer breathing.

"Then we started to panic... It's obvious why... you have a corpse in your house and don't know anything... We could not keep her there and I suggested we place her somewhere and then call an ambulance as I did not want to take her anywhere she would not be found."

After they placed her in the field, Mrs Decelis stopped by a phone booth and called 196.

"It never crossed my mind that all this would happen. I had no idea she was going to die. I felt I was helping her and doing all I could. I looked after her all night. I had no intention of killing the girl or of letting her die... I did not have anything weighing down on my conscience and still don't."

Jason Decelis chose not to testify.

Members of the jury were then addressed by the defence lawyers.

The trial continues this morning when the jurors are expected to hear final submissions and the summing up of the trial before they retire to deliberate.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara prosecuted.

Lawyers Chris Soler and Chris Cardona are appearing for Carmel Decelis, lawyer Malcolm Mifsud for Mrs Decelis and lawyer Martin Fenech for their son.