A wealthy Russian mother charged with murdering her daughter had first confessed to the police but then changed her version because she wanted to “uphold the family’s reputation”, a court heard yesterday.

Tamara Gennadievan Boubekova, 58, told the police 28-year-old Yulia Kalinina was in the habit of drinking and staying out all night and had recently also started taking drugs, Police Inspector Therese Sciberras testified.

The two had a tempestuous relationship though the mother paid for the rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Portomaso for her daughter, who said she needed more independence.

When together the two would fight a lot. In fact, three to four days before the body was found, the two got into a heated argument when the mother told her daughter this was not the behaviour of a woman with an eight-year-old daughter and told her to seek rehabilitation, Ms Sciberras said.

According to the first version of events, during this argument, the accused threatened to tell the victim’s father she was abusing drugs, which would stop him from sending her money. The daughter replied that if that happened she would prostitute herself. At this point, in a drugged stupor, the victim collapsed on the floor as she usually did after taking drugs. To make sure she was still alive, the accused bit her cheek. After no response was forthcoming, she held her nose and mouth shut for about five minutes. She did not realise she had actually killed her.

In this first statement, the mother said that whenever her daughter collapsed she would block her nose and if her mouth opened it would mean she was still breathing. However, this time, despite the fact she did not open her mouth, the mother left her on the floor because she thought it was one of her usual drug-induced blackouts.

She then said that “one morning” she detected a bad odour but thought it was because her daughter had not showered for a few days, which was normal.

The admission matched the forensic evidence, Ms Sciberras said, pointing out the victim was found face up, on a carpet, near the kitchen with a bite mark on her cheek and redness around her mouth, which indicated someone placing their hand on this area before she died.

In the second statement, the accused said she wanted to change her previous version because her husband was a prominent businessman and had a reputation to uphold. She told the police she would hire the best lawyer in Malta and get out of the situation.

Despite not having gone into specifics about the violence in the first statement, in the second, the accused denied coming to blows with her daughter and strangely denied pulling her hair. The police inspector found the detail strange at first but it all fell into place when the body was lifted and tufts of the victim’s hair were found underneath her.

In a search at the Xemxija flat where the body was found on January 31, the police found two safes containing a half empty bottle of vodka and a half empty bottle of white wine. In the second, they found jewellery and some documents as well as empty vodka and wine bottles.At the victim’s Portomaso apartment, the police found a large number of expensive clothing and shoes, some items barely worn.After taking the last statement, the police spoke to the victim’s father, Gregory, who visits Malta three times a year and had left six days before her body was found.

He told the police his wife was an alcoholic and that the two always fought. He said that, after he left this last time, he had phoned them from Russia but nobody answered. He thought they did not want to speak to him because his daughter had had a drink-drive related accident and they did not want to tell him how much the damage was going to cost.

The victim’s estranged husband, who lives in Malta, also spoke to the police and told them he had been looking after their daughter for the 15 days before the body was found.

The case continues.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Katia Mercieca are defence counsel.