Accused of wife's murder

A Ukrainian national was yesterday charged with murdering his wife, who was found dead in an empty elevator shaft at the block of flats where they lived in Ramon Perellos Street, St Paul's Bay on Monday.

The body of Liudmyla Nykytiuk, 35, also from the Ukraine, was found shortly after 8 a.m.

Sergii Nykytiuk, 37, was escorted into a courtroom wearing a blue T-shirt, black tracksuit trousers and blue sandals and was charged with murdering his wife between Sunday night and Monday morning.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino, from the Homicide Squad, who prosecuted together with Inspector Keith Arnaud, from the Criminal Investigation Department, said Mr Nykytiuk had already been questioned as a suspect when he was arrested and kept in custody. He explained that throughout the investigations they had found a number of witnesses from the Ukraine and Moldova whose entry permits had expired, so they asked the court to hear their evidence prior to deportation.

Mr Nykytiuk pleaded not guilty.

Although not charged, he admitted he had been working here without a permit.

Sources said the suspect denied murdering his wife when first questioned by the police before he was confronted with evidence the investigators had assembled in his regard. The sources also said that, during the autopsy on Tuesday, pathologists found injuries compatible with a beating.