Murdered mother was a reality TV contestant

Murdered mother-of-two Yvette Gajda was a reality show star in her native Hungary, competing to become the wife of a Hungarian television celebrity.

Ms Gajda, 38, was killed on Monday morning after being stabbed more than 40 times with a pair of scissors. She was already dead when police found her body at her St Paul’s Bay apartment.

An autopsy confirmed that Ms Gajda died of hypovolemic shock caused by severe blood loss.

Her partner, 45-year-old Laszlo Marton, was found at the scene of the crime with a number of self-inflicted scissor wounds.

He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital suffering from serious, though non-life-threatening, injuries.

Police did not confirm whether Mr Marton, who was still in hospital, has been arrested in connection with Ms Gajda’s murder.

According to neighbours, both were heavy drinkers who argued viciously and loudly. The two were having an argument the morning of Ms Gajda’s murder, with people saying they heard angry yelling and the sound of smashed crockery.

It was a far cry from Ms Gajda ‘s life just three years ago, when she was a contender on Hungarian reality show Benkö feleséget keres (Benko’s looking for a wife), in which women competed for the affections of B-list Hungarian celebrity Daniel Benko. Ms Gajda did not win the contest, lasting six episodes before being eliminated. According to her show profile, Ms Gajda liked “nice”, well-mannered and clean men with a good sense of humour.

“I like a man who doesn’t give up on his principles, and I don’t like pushy men. I think that’s animalistic,” she wrote in 2009.

In Malta she worked on and off as a cleaner, though had previously been a model and shop assistant.

But her star turn on Mr Benko’s show did not go down well with everyone: in 2010 Hungarian tabloid Napi Ász reported she had been verbally assaulted by another woman as she walked in a shopping centre with her daughter.

Two of Ms Gajda’s children, aged 17 and five, were accompanied from the murder scene on Tuesday by police, together with a family friend who reportedly lived with them.

Police did not say who has taken responsibility for the children.