'You can call the police now'

After stabbing his former girlfriend for two minutes, the man walked out of the flat covered in blood, fixed his hair and with a blank look on his face said "you can call the police now", a neighbour who witnessed the horrific murder of Josette Scicluna in San Ġwann told a court yesterday.

Testifying at the start of the trial by jury against David Schembri, 32, Fleur Cilia Bucket gave a graphic account of the moment she saw Mr Schembri repeatedly stabbing the victim in a pool of blood on the floor. Mr Schembri is pleading not guilty to killing Ms Scicluna in May 2004. A total of 47 stab wounds were found on the victim's body.

Ms Cilia Bucket, who lives in the apartment directly beneath Ms Scicluna's, recalled that on the day of the incident the two had a chat, as they did every day.

Fifteen minutes later she heard a loud bang and rushed upstairs to see what had happened.

That was when she saw Mr Schembri stabbing Ms Scicluna.

Finding the couple's daughter in hysterics, screaming and jumping up and down, she whisked her to another neighbour in the same block.

On her return about two minutes later, Mr Schembri was still stabbing Ms Scicluna and Ms Cilia Bucket asked him to "stop it, stop it now please!"

Peeping out from behind the front door of the apartment opposite, accompanied by a neighbour, she then saw Mr Schembri walk out soaked in blood, "arrange his hair" and calmly say with a blank look on his face, "you can call the police now".

The victim was in silence on the floor and tried to speak and get up but she just couldn't. Ms Cilia Bucket called the ambulance within seconds, she told the court.

A month before the murder, she said Ms Scicluna had asked her to keep the main door of the apartment block locked but did not give a reason why.

She was a very reserved person and two weeks before the incident she told Ms Cilia Bucket that her former boyfriend wanted a pair of leather pants which he claimed were at her apartment but which she could not find.

The two women had become friends while competing in a beauty pageant together in 1987 and had rekindled their friendship a few years later when they happened to become neighbours.

A second neighbour called to the witness stand, Chantelle Pardo Calì, recounted that she was at the grocery store opposite the block of flats when she heard four or five loud bangs. She rushed back to the block because she thought something might have happened to her children.

Running up the stairs, she found Mr Schembri with a sharp object in his right hand repeatedly stabbing the victim all over her body and in her genitals.

The child was still in the flat at the time. Ms Pardo Calì said she ran down the stairs shouting for help and rushed back up, staying with Ms Scicluna as she lay in a pool of blood until the ambulance arrived.

Mr Schembri walked into the police station after the murder, police officer Joanne Bonello testified. The sleeves of his white Adidas track suit top were pulled up and his arms were soaked in blood.

He sat down calmly and told the policewoman that he had been involved in an argument but did not go into detail when probed further. In another attempt to glean some information, the officer was told: "I've done something I shouldn't have, I've injured her". He had a fight with his girlfriend and their daughter was at a neighbour's house, he added.

Flying into a sudden rage, he then said he wanted to go back to the flat because her father would be there. The police officer managed to convince him to stay put.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino told the court that when he spoke to the couple's seven-year-old daughter she uttered words that he would never forget: "I heard some big bangs and the door opened and I saw daddy holding a gun".

It transpired later that the loud bangs were gunshots: five bullet holes were found in the door, two lodged in the lock.

Describing the scene inside the flat, Inspector Pullicino said there was a trail of blood which led to a pool of blood in the kitchen in front of the fridge, bullet holes in the door and blood spattered on the walls.

In his statement to the police, the accused said he had walked from College Street, Sliema, to the San Ġwann apartment because he was not allowed to drive.

He forced open the door of Ms Scicluna's flat and she came at him holding something in her hands. He did not recognise what she was holding but he took it away from her and hit her with it instead.

During the argument he suddenly saw some blood, panicked and fled the scene because he knew what her father was capable of, he said in his statement.

He also told the police that the problems between his former girlfriend and himself went back a long way. Her father was forever getting involved in their relationship.

He also claimed that the father used to beat his daughter and Mr Schembri used to feel sorry for her; he loved her. She had left the family home because of problems with her father when she was 18 and they had been together for a number of years - living together on and off for a few months.

Former Assistant Police Commissioner Emanuel Cassar said that when he told Mr Schembri that Ms Scicluna had died, the accused started crying and went into denial, saying the police were bluffing.

The court heard that Ms Scicluna was still alive on the way to hospital but she went into cardiac arrest on arrival.

She was found with 22 stab wounds all over her body but an autopsy later revealed the full extent of her injuries: a total of 47 stab wounds. There were no gunshot injuries.

Yesterday's proceedings followed another trial in which a jury had established that Mr Schembri was in good mental health and could undergo the trial. The decision was confirmed by the Criminal Court of Appeal last September.

The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, Anthony Barbara, prosecuted, assisted by lawyer Lara Lanfranco.

Lawyers Emmanuel Mallia, Gianella Caruana Curran and Arthur Azzopardi appeared parte civile.

Lawyer Joe Brincat appeared for Mr Schembri.