A self-professed “serial killer” yesterday tried to convince jurors that he was criminally insane at the time he killed his second victim and that he was not mentally fit to stand trial for the murder.

Murder doesn’t happen because you are mad but because of jealousy, the thirst for money, or love

Silvio Mangion, 47, from Żejtun, had tried to plead insane twice before standing trial for two other murders but failed, making this his third and final attempt.

If jurors decide today that he is in fact mentally fit, he will stand trial accused of stabbing to death 68-year-old Maria Stella Magrin at her home in Cospicua on October 30, 1986.

Mr Mangion has already been jailed for life for killing 54-year-old Rożina Zammit on February 8, 1984, in her Safi home. He stabbed her about 40 times.

He is also serving a 21-year jail term for the murder of his neighbour Frenċ Cassar, 74, of Żejtun, and the attempted murder of the victim’s sister, Ġuża Cassar on August 18, 1998.

During the trial yesterday, lawyer Nadine Sant, from the Attorney General’s Office, rebutted Mr Mangion’s claim that he was insane, saying: “Murder doesn’t happen because you are mad but because of jealousy, the thirst for money, or love, normal human instincts.”

The sitting was characterised by relentless questioning, lasting three-and-a half-hours, of the three court-appointed psychiatrists, George Debono, Peter Muscat and Ethel Felice.

Dr Sant took them to task over a report they had drawn up about the accused, in which they said they could not extrapolate what his mental state was during the commission of the murder of Ms Magrin.

They said they had examined him two years ago, during the compilation of evidence and he was not in a proper mental state to testify. However, after examining him recently, his schizophrenia was now under control and he was fit to stand trial.

Testifying, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said during the case Mr Mangion had asked him if making a plea of insanity would be credible.

In another instance, the inspector asked him why he had the letters S and K tattooed on his ear lobes.

Mr Mangion said that S stood for the first letter of his name while the K stood for Kalanġ, his nickname. But he then laughed and said that it stood for serial killer.

PI Pullicino was investigating unsolved cases in 2005 when he received information that Mr Mangion was involved in Ms Magrin’s murder and called him in for questioning.

The accused first denied killing her but then said that he and another two men, Oswaldo Spiteri and his uncle Leli Spiteri, had broken into her house and killed her because otherwise she would have been able to identify them.

Leli Spiteri died in 2000, while his nephew tried to commit suicide in police custody over the case and died a short time later in the Intensive Care Unit.

The inspector said that he was amazed at the detail the accused went into when he admitted the killing and corroborated even the slightest evidence that was recorded in the case files.

It all came together when he cross referenced his police statement with the files of the investigation and found that everything matched.

Mr Mangion, for example, had told him he had stabbed the victim as he was facing her.

The autopsy report revealed that the victim’s aggressor was indeed face to face with her.

Another matching detail was that the three men took a torch with them because the victim had no electricity and this was found at the crime scene.

Mr Mangion described driving his Morris Marina to the Rialto Cinema in Cospicua and walking to the house where they killed the woman before making off with Lm6,000 in cash.

The trial continues tomorrow.