Man charged with trying to kill former lover

A Bulgarian yesterday told jurors how he could not explain what came over him when he sneaked into his partner's apartment on Christmas morning and stabbed her, while another man was asleep next to her.

"I don't know why I stabbed her. I cannot imagine I did this to her because I used to love this woman more than whatever exists for me... For (a) few seconds something closed in front of my eyes," Petko Dimitrov Krushkov said in broken English.

The 37-year-old was testifying, before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, in a trial by jury where he is pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of his former partner, Therese Cachia, in her St Paul's Bay apartment on December 25, 2004, at about 8 a.m.

Mr Krushkov explained how he first came to Malta in 1999 and met Ms Cachia, who had separated from her husband in December 2002.

"We were having a great time. We were talking about the future and living together," he said.

Then, in January 2004, he decided to go to Bulgaria to visit his family whom he had not seen for four years. He said that despite paying an airport official Lm150, he was not allowed back into Malta when he tried to return the following February.

While he was in Bulgaria, Ms Cachia sent him many affectionate text messages and even offered to marry him in Bulgaria so he would be allowed into Malta.

He eventually came back in May 2004, after slipping €500 into his passport, and his relationship with Ms Cachia continued.

But then the problems started he said: Ms Cachia wanted to meet up with her friends more often. He believed this attitude was brought about by her friend, a certain Michelle.

Mr Krushkov said that although Ms Cachia was meeting her friends whenever she wanted, they kept seeing each other, going out for dinner and having intimate relations.

In fact, when she hurt her back in November that year, he gave her the mattress from his apartment and even offered to whitewash her apartment.

In mid-December he went to her house and saw a little boy and she told him he was the son of a man she had met. That was when he first met Jesmond Scerri.

On Christmas Eve he made plans to meet Ms Cachia's sister and brother-in-law in a Bugibba bar. When he went there he also met Ms Cachia and spoke to her because he wanted their relationship to return to the way it used to be.

Then Mr Scerri arrived and kissed Ms Cachia on the lips. When Mr Krushkov asked who he was, her sister said he was her new boyfriend but Ms Cachia denied it. Some time later Ms Cachia and Mr Scerri moved on to another bar. Mr Krushkov kept on drinking and when he went home to his apartment he saw the key to Ms Cachia's apartment.

That was when he thought he would go to her apartment and check if she really was with another man.

Mr Krushkov said he was very drunk and, when he saw a knife on his kitchen table, he decided to take it with him. He explained that Mr Scerri seemed to be a strong man and more sober than he was, so he thought he would need something to defend himself with in case he was assaulted.

Mr Krushkov went to Ms Cachia's apartment, walked into her bedroom and saw her and Mr Scerri asleep. He pulled the quilt off them and threw it on the floor.

"I was shocked. I was surprised. It was an unbelievable situation," he said.

Then Ms Cachia woke up and, when she saw him she started to swear at him. He asked her to wake Mr Scerri because he wanted to speak to him and see if he was her boyfriend.

"I went to ask this man what he was doing in my place, in our bed.... because if the bed was hers, the mattress was mine," he said.

He further explained how Ms Cachia then pushed him and he fell onto the wardrobe. That was when he saw the knife in his jacket and stabbed her.

He said he never intended injuring or killing her or Mr Scerri. "I was shocked and didn't believe what I had just done," he said. Therese Cachia also took the witness stand and explained what happened on Christmas eve 2004. But first she said that her relationship with Mr Krushkov had ended in February, 2004.

On Christmas Eve she and Mr Scerri went to her apartment at about 6 a.m. Then, at about 7.30 a.m., she felt someone shake her telling her to get up.

"I was frightened... I saw him on top of me, standing near me," she said.

She told Mr Krushkov to get out or she would call the police. When he tried to go for Mr Scerri, she got out of bed and pushed him to the ground.

"Then he got very angry. He told me: 'This is what you want'... he opened his jacket and took the knife out.... he pushed me on the bed... and stabbed me," she explained.

The knife remained stuck inside her so she pulled it out of her chest and threw it as far away as possible, then pushed Mr Krushkov out of her room, closed the door and woke Mr Scerri.

Eventually, she said, she was taken to hospital where it was certified she had three wounds. Although she was stabbed once, the knife had pierced her right breast into her abdomen.

The trial continues this morning.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara is prosecuting.

Defence counsel Malcolm Mifsud is representing Mr Krushkov.