Unable to afford bail, accused is kept in custody

The man accused of trying to kill his former girlfriend and stabbing her mother to death in the same frenzied attack in 2009 will remain in prison because he cannot afford his bail bond.

Clive Farrugia, 26, who has been in custody for 20 months, yesterday asked for the deposit to be reduced so he could be released.

His lawyer, Giannella Caruana Curran cited article 575 of the Criminal Code laying down that, after spending 20 months or more under preventive arrest, the court must grant bail.

Magistrate Anthony Vella, however, turned down the application.

Mr Farrugia is pleading not guilty to murdering 61-year-old Mary Theresa Vella, with 28 stab wounds, to the attempted murder of her daughter Mary Grace, 26, and her son Joseph and seriously injuring them at their house in Cospicua on May 8, 2009.

He is also denying being in possession of the knife allegedly used in the attack.

During a sitting in October 2009, Ms Vella, who suffered 11 stab wounds, had declared: “I believe a lot in God and I forgive him”.

She recounted how Mr Farrugia turned up at home to see her young son. She had broken up with Mr Farrugia two weeks earlier and was seeing another man. She was 99 per cent sure Mr Farrugia was the father of her son even if she had been seeing another man prior to dating the accused.

Mr Farrugia told her he loved her dearly and wanted them to get back together again but she refused, telling him he was miserly and a workaholic. He said he would change his ways and began crying, sitting on the bed next to her. When she rejected his advances, he threw up on her leg.

She testified that he then produced a knife and started stabbing her in the legs. Her mother rushed to her rescue and he turned on her.

The younger woman was rescued by her brother, a policeman who was asleep upstairs when he heard the commotion. He managed to knock the knife out of Mr Farrugia’s hands.

The case continues.