A man who is alleged to have stabbed his estranged wife six times earlier this month had been planning to murder her and he even took his daughter with him to buy a revolver, a court heard this morning.

In the compilation of evidence against Eleno Cassar 43, of Birkirkara, the victim's mother, Tessie Busuttil, recounted that her daughter had been living with her because she needed an operation for a pinched nerve.

The victim, Charmaine Cassar, 41, had been moved to Ghabex Home in Gozo from Merhba Bik after Mr Cassar threatened the social workers at Merhba Bik and regularly walked  in front of the house in a threatening manner.

Mr Cassar is denying trying to kill Charmaine and seriously injuring Mrs Busuttil, 66.

Prior to the alleged stabbing, he had been ordered by a court not to contact his wife. He allegedly stabbed her in the neck, chest and back during the incident.

Mrs Busuttil told the court that she refused to let her daughter stay at the hospital because she was so afraid of Mr Cassar.

She said that a few days before the incident, Charmaine had found three bolts in her car tyre and a piece of paper on the windscreen with offensive words written all over it.

On the day of the incident, she (Charmaine) had just returned home  when she heard the secondary door of the house open and initially thought thieves had entered the house.

She ran from the kitchen towards the main door and three quarters down the corridor saw Mr Cassar.

He threw his wife against a chest of drawers and ran into the kitchen, where  Mrs Busuttil was.

He started throwing chairs to block Mrs Busuttil's path to prevent her getting through to her daugher. He then threw a chair at Charmaine hitting her on the forehead. At that point, she fell on the floor.

The mother recounted how he started kicking her daughter repeatedly "like he was training for football".

Mrs Busuttil said she decided leapt on her daughter to try to protect her.But he pulled her off and plunging a knife into the daughter about three times.

Mrs Busuttil said she punched him in the stomach and grabbed the knife from the blade, injuring her hand. He told her "I'll cut your hand off".

He then threw Mrs Busuttil onto the kitchen table and told her to "die there". He told her he was going to the police station to lodge a report.

Mrs Busuttil told the court that the accused threatened her daughter, with whom he had two children, one aged 23, the other 16, regularly.

When the Mgarr murder took place last December,  Mr Cassar called his 16-year-old daughter and told her to enjoy her mother while she could, because she would be ending up in the same way as the Mgarr woman, or in a wheelchair.

He also used to tell them to forget about the court order (not to approach the victim), as this was just a piece of paper which he could use instead of toilet paper.

Mrs Busuttil said that the family had endured a lot of pain and suffering because of his behaviour, they were scared of leaving the house and they would not take children anywhere.

Three days before incident, he had called the 16-year-old and asked her to go out with him to buy   something.

The daughter decided to go but returned soon after, looking scared.

She said that her father had taken her to a garage in Pembroke where he tried to buy a revolver. But the seller wanted €1,000 for it. He had told the daughter that he wanted the revolver to kill her mother with it.

Mrs Busuttil said that being the smart girl that she was, the daughter recorded the address of the place and the number plates of the cars that were around.

Neighbour Kim d'Alfonso testified that, on the day of the incident, she saw Mrs Busuttil outside her porch with blood running down her hands.

She ran downstairs and Mrs Busuttil told her "my daughter is dead". Mrs d'Alfonso then called an ambulance but nobody answered the telephone.

She then ran downstairs and together with Mrs Busuttil went into the latter's house.

Inside they saw Charmaine on the floor with blood all over and around her. They again phoned the ambulance, this time getting a reply and they were told that one was on the way.

The case continues.

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