The defence counsel for Saviour Mangion, the convicted murderer facing trial for the murder of Maria Stella Magrin argued today that there was no concrete evidence linking the accused to the gruesome murder.

Dr Simon Micallef Stafrace said that the statement in which his client admitted his involvement with the police, was taken without his client having access to a lawyer and was therefore inadmissible.

Even the statement by Oswaldo Spiteri, who said Mr Mangion was with him when the crime was committed, was taken in the absence of his lawyer.

Mangion is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Rosina Zammit, 54, in Safi in 1984 and was jailed for 21 years for the murder of Francis Caruana in 1998. He stabbed both his victims repeatedly..

Magrin was stabbed repeatedly during a robbery at her house in Cospicua in 1986.

Prosecutor Nadine Sant said the defence had decided to attack the prosecution and the police investigations rather than come up with a more credible line of defence. She said the evidence all pointed to the accused as the person who killed Ms Magrin. 

Earlier today two pathologists who carried out an autopsy on the woman’s corpse said she had died a brutal death, with at seat four of the 12 stab wounds penetrating the bone and one actually fracturing a rib.

Forensic pathologist Ali Salfraz and consultant histopathology James Degaetano said the autopsy concluded that the cause of Maria Stella Magrin’s death was a ruptured lung and loss of blood after having “bled profusely”.

The 68-year-old victim was found lying face up in a pool of blood beneath a wooden altar after being stabbed in the back multiple times.

The vicious murder took place on October 29, 1986, as she wrestled with three men who robbed the equivalent of €14,000 in cash.

Only one of the men, Saviour Mangion, is alive today. Another, Oswaldo Spiteri, committed suicide shortly after being arrested over the murder while his uncle Leli Spiteri died while the investigations were dormant. 

The case continues.

Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano is presiding over the case.