A woman charged with the attempted murder of her neighbour testified that she had once called the police to stop an argument but was told by the officer that he could only help if she called him once the matter turned violent.

Louise Zahra told jurors in her trial that she had phoned the police when her husband and uncle were involved in an argument with their neighbour Stephen Sultana.

The police officer on duty said he could not do much unless the matter became violent and, shortly afterwards, she saw her neighbour beat her uncle violently.

Ms Zahra, of Kalkara, was testifying in the trial in which she, her husband Anthony and her uncle George Gatt from Xgħajra are pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of their former neighbour, Mr Sultana, on September 3, 2001.

The trial, that is expected to end with a verdict later this afternoon, was characterised by conflicting evidence with different versions of events being given to the jurors.

Mr Sultana testified on Monday that after he had swept some dirt and rubbish and collected it in a bucket, he heard Mr Zahra shouting from his roof top telling him not to sweep the rubbish in that manner. "I told him not to speak to me because a previous court order had told us not to speak to each other," he said.

Mrs Zahra said in court that, while on the roof, her husband was lowering a flag when he noticed that the flag had been torn because of a piece of metal sticking out of Mr Sultana's washroom. "When he looked over the roof he spotted Mr Sultana sweeping dirt under (my husband's) car and when my husband told him not to do that Mr Sultana challenged him to fight".

She said there was a commotion and when she looked to see what was happening she spotted her uncle being beaten by Mr Sultana.

The court then heard that during the argument Mr Sultana was stabbed three times, two superficial wounds and the third puncturing his abdomen.

Mr Sultana told the jurors that it was Mr Gatt who had stabbed him but it was Mrs Zahra who had hit him on the head with a broom stick and Mr Zahra had pointed a gun at him which did not go off.

The accused are denying the fact that they had ever used or had a gun and had taken a knife with them during the incident.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Raphael Fenech Adami appeared for the Zahra family.