A man accused of encouraging his teenage girlfriend to commit suicide did not inform rescuers that Lisa Marie Zahra was with him, even though he was “lucid”, a court heard yesterday.

A nurse who was called to Dingli Cliffs in the afternoon on March 19 said that not only did Erin Tanti not inform paramedics that she was at the foot of the cliff but did not even inquire about her condition.

“Had I not asked him, we wouldn’t even have known,” Patrick Camilleri, a nurse at Mater Dei Hospital, said.

He was testifying before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli in the compilation of evidence against the 23-year-old drama teacher who is pleading not guilty to the murder of Ms Zahra, his 15-year-old student, and assisting her to commit suicide.

Mr Camilleri said Mr Tanti, who was “lucid”, then told him they had tried to commit suicide together by ingesting pills, but when this did not work they jumped off the cliff.

She jumped first and then he “panicked” and jumped after her.

Mr Tanti told him that he had not been accepted by her family, especially her father and brother.

Mr Camilleri said that Mr Tanti’s injuries were not so serious that they required immediate hospitalisation so the ambulance team waited there until Ms Zahra’s body was airlifted to the cliff edge.

But Mr Tanti never asked after her, the nurse said.

Darren Scerri, who was on a picnic at Dingli Cliffs with his friends that day, testified that he saw Mr Tanti “crawling and sleeping” 30 to 40 metres below at around 11am but did not give it too much weight. As they were leaving, at around 4pm, he started calling for help, telling them he had been hurt and asking them for water as he was thirsty.

Upon hearing that so much time had elapsed before help was requested, Ms Zahra’s father, Tony, was taken ill in the courtroom and was escorted to the magistrate’s chambers.

Mark Ciangura, who works for Mr Zahra’s company, said he knew Ms Zahra because he used to go to their house every day and used to look after her when her father was abroad.

It was the first time she had remained at the house while her father was overseas as she usually went to live with her grandmother, he said.

The day before the incident, he went there in the morning and found a car parked in front of the main gate. He saw on the CCTV footage that a man had spent the night there.

Mr Ciangura said he called Ms Zahra’s brother and father who told them to file a police report. Some hours later, he received a call from Ms Zahra who said she wanted to speak to him.

He went to the house and found her crying on her bed in her school uniform. She was on the phone and sending messages. Mr Zahra had told him to take her mobile phone, so he did.

He told Ms Zahra that it was not right to take people home while her father was abroad and that she was still under age.

The following morning, when Ms Zahra could not be found, he filed a missing person report. Her ID card, passport and purse were all at the house.

Replying to questions by the defence, Mr Ciangura said he remembered seeing scratches on her left arm. He said he had asked for the blades and took them out of a teddy bear soft toy.

In a previous sitting, forensic experts had said the soft toy they had found in Ms Zahra’s bedroom contained blades.

The case continues next month.

Police Inspectors Keith Arnaud, Sylvana Briffa and Josric Mifsud are prosecuting. Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha appeared for the defence while lawyers Giannella de Marco and Joseph Giglio are representing the Zahra family.