A Nigerian woman accused of stabbing her husband in the chest with a kitchen knife did so in self-defence after he tried to strangle her, a magistrate heard yesterday.

Sandra David, 22, was charged with the attempted murder of Samuel Bagura on Wednesday between 9 p.m. and midnight at their apartment in San Ġwann .

Standing calm and composed before Magistrate Miriam Hayman, Ms David also pleaded not guilty to grievously injuring her husband with a knife.

Legal aid lawyer Noel Bartolo said his client was attacked by her husband while she was cooking.

“She acted in self-defence as her husband was trying to ­strangle her. He even pulled ­several strands of her hair out,” Dr Bartolo said.

Police Inspector Tony Cachia, prosecuting, said that the woman was not reliable, noting that she had even misled the Refugee ­Commissioner into thinking she was from Sierra Leone.

“When we arrested her, an official from the Sierra Leone Commission came to speak to her and realised that she was not a Sierra Leonean,” he said.

When questioned, Ms David admitted she was from Nigeria.

She has been in Malta for just over a year.

The prosecution objected to bail, pointing out that the couple had been warned by their landlord that they had until the end of the week to vacate the apartment.

“They were causing a lot of damage during their arguments and fell behind with the rent,” Police Inspector Rosanne Debattista said.

Magistrate Hayman denied Mrs David bail, saying she wanted to give time to the victim, the only witness, to make a statement to the police.