Jurors reject husband's insanity plea

A jury yesterday decided with seven votes to two that Anthony Schembri, 61, of Sliema, was not in a state of insanity when he allegedly stabbed his wife to death while she lay in hospital in September 2005.

In May last year, jurors had also decided, with six votes to three, that he was not in a state of insanity when he fatally stabbed his wife Doris but the trial was declared null because of an irregularity.

Mr Schembri had pleaded insanity when the compilation of evidence was being heard in the Magistrates' Court and a mental health assessment by three court-appointed psychiatrists concluded that he was not in the right state of mind when he allegedly committed the crime.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino on Tuesday read out the statement Mr Schembri had given to the police, admitting that he had stabbed his wife in the neck and stomach and would do so again.

The three psychiatrists - David Cassar, Anton Grech and Ethel Felice - testified that Mr Schembri had been suffering from schizophrenia for a number of years and that he was not in the right state of mind when he murdered his wife.

The psychiatrists said that Mr Schembri was not lying about the illusions and paranoia that he claimed to suffer from because of schizophrenia and that they had deliberated on this point for a long time.

At the end of the sitting, Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano ordered that the compilation of evidence against Mr Schembri should continue. He also ordered that the accused is sent to Mount Carmel Hospital where he has been since the start of the case.

The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, Anthony Barbara, together with lawyer Nadine Sant, prosecuted.

Lawyers Anġlu Farrugia and Edward Gatt appeared for Mr Schembri.