Man tells jurors why he stabbed his wife

A man accused of trying to kill his wife when he stabbed her in a car told jurors yesterday he was in a state of psychological turmoil that was triggered by eight months of suspected infidelity.

Paul Caruana said that on June 12, 2003, his wife Sandra and her sister Carmen went to speak to him at the garage where he worked. This followed a series of sleepless nights. His wife had moved out with her sister two days earlier following a fight.

"Carmen lifted the passengers' seat and told me to sit in the back of the car. My wife, who had been in the driver's seat, came to the back too. Carmen sat on the passengers' seat.

"I was crying and asked my wife why she was doing this to me and our two daughters... Then Carmen started shouting at me to give her the children. My wife shouted too that she wanted the children and the keys to the house. Carmen told me that if I did not give up the children they would not let me out of the car.

"I panicked and shouted 'Let me out, let me out'. They were shouting too. I remember I had the knife I had just used to open the pigeon's food. I only wanted to get out of the car... I then realised that I had hit her," Mr Caruana said.

Mr Caruana, 34, of Zejtun was testifying before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono.

He started by explaining that his marriage started off well but, as time passed, things got from bad to worse.

"She started abandoning the children, not feeding and washing them and leaving the house dirty. She was never around. I used to be working in the garage and would take my two daughters to my mother's house... I tried to look after the children and cook and clean the house. They used to cry a lot. At times they would phone me while I was at the garage because they were home alone. "Then Sandra started leaving the house at night. I would wake up and not find her next to me. My daughter would come and ask where she was. She would say she went to see the boats at Zejtun bay.

"I started to lose my appetite and could not sleep. I could not even work. I could not stick it any longer and did not have the strength to cook for the children any more," he said in a broken voice.

Mr Caruana said that some eight months before the incident he started suspecting that his wife was cheating on him. His suspicions were strengthened by text messages she received in the middle of the night. She told him the messages were from her relatives or friends and he could not verify as he was illiterate.

"When I asked her why she was doing this to me and the children she said we were crazy and we were bothering her.

"Then I found traces of sperm on the front and back seat of the van she used. Again she told me I was crazy... I was devastated," he said.

Two days before the incident, his wife received a text message and told him it was from her sister but, when he checked, her sister denied sending the message.

They argued about it and his wife started shouting and hitting him while he was driving and he struck her with his arm. That day his wife went to stay with her sister and he and the children went to his mother's house.

After a sleepless night, he spent the following day at his mother's house and tried to get some rest as he was knackered.

Then he received a phone call from his niece who told him to run to the police station with the children because his wife and her siblings, Carmen and Mario, were going to get him.

"There was a feast that day. I went with my brother, Chris, to the police station and on the way I heard shouting and saw Sandra, Carmen and Mario head in my direction. They threatened to kill me and stab me. They said they would take the children and the garage away from me," he said.

"That night I could not sleep again. I was never as shattered as that night... I had been thinking of ending my own life... Then I'd think about the children."

In the morning, on June 12, he was sitting on the threshold of his mother's house when a friend took him to see a doctor, but the clinic was still closed. He then went to the garage and decided to feed the pigeons.

After some time he was told that someone wanted to speak to him and he put the knife he used to open the bird food in his pocket.

When he went outside his wife's sister told him to get in the car. Once in the car, his wife and her sister did not let him get out before he agreed to give up his children and home.

That was when, in an attempt to break out of the car, he grabbed the knife and hit his wife.

"When I got out of the car people in the area came next to me. My wife drove off. Then I ran off. I was mentally exhausted. Then my sister came and I don't know where she took me. I later found out I was at Mount Carmel. I stayed there six or seven weeks. Then I was arraigned."

Under cross examination he said he only produced the knife because he felt he was "trapped in a sac".

"I loved my wife and still do. I wanted to remain with her. When I came to my senses, about four days later, and found out she was in hospital I was sorry."

The trial continues this morning.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said is prosecuting.

Lawyers Emmanuel Mallia and Giannella Caruana Curran are appearing for Mr Caruana.