A court is this morning continuing to hear evidence into the death of Lisa Marie Zahra, 15, at the foot of Dingli Ciffs last March 19.

The evidence is part of the compilation of evidence against Ms Zahra’s former teacher Erin Tanti, 23, who stands accused of her murder and of encouraging her to commit suicide. He is pleading not guilty.

Follow the proceedings below.

10.01am - Mr Tanti is in court sitting next to a nurse. Tania Mercieca, Ms Zahra's cousin, is testifying. She says she had no idea what was happening until she spoke to Nick (her brother) that morning and he told her she was not home. "I had no idea something could have happened.

10.03am - "Tony Zahra had to arrive that afternoon (March 19) so I went to their house at about 2pm. I thought she went out as she usually does and would come back. That day it was a public holiday so there was no school.

10.05am - The police were at the house. I stayed there until uncle Tony and Nick went to the depot. Then we got a call on how they had found her. We are a close family. We meet on several occasions, go walking and swimming together. We are a united family. Lisa lost her mother when she was young so we did our best to compensate for the love. Lisa was fun, lively and ambitious. She dreamt of studying abroad. She loved the piano, ballet... she was very active.

10.08am - I was close to her... I knew there was this problem of self harm. She was posting stuff on this tumblr site and the school drew our attention to it. There had been an argument between Uncle Tony and Lisa Marie and we sought help from Dr Ethel Felice who referred us to a psychologist.

10.10am - I was never present during the encounters... I was present during one visit to Dr Felice... Even we needed guidance on how to deal with it.

10.11am - Cross examination.

10.12am - Ms Mercieca continues that between December and March, she did not see Lisa Marie much because she had many activities to juggle.

10.15am - Lisa used to self harm so we needed to tackle the problem.

10.18am - I never saw bloodstained towels in her room.

10.19am - Lisa Marie's brother Nicholas Zahra, 37, takes the witness stand.

10.20am - He says he has been living alone since he was 19. "I had a good relationship with my sister.

10.23am - She was a teenager and used liked the things teenagers liked. On March 18, I arrived at Europcar, one of our businesses, at 8am and met Mark Ciangura. He told me he saw something strange that morning - a car outside my father's house. My dad was in Dubai for a conference so Lisa was with the housekeeper. When my dad wasabroad, she usually stayed with her grandmother in Valletta. I told him to verify this through the CCTV footage and we saw someone going in and out. We found out it was Erin Tanti. I google checked him and saw things that worried me. I saw that, like my sister, he was involved in Masquerade. I saw an advert of a play of Erin and I got worried... I said there is something wrong so I wrote an email to my father about the matter.

10.27am - My father called me later to ask what had happened and he told me he was going to get the next flight out. He called my cousin Tanya and I went to my father's house at about 5pm.

10.29am - In the meantime, Mark called us saying there was no need to go home but since we were on the way, we continued heading that way. Lisa was in her bedroom. She was quiet. My father called and I went to the garden to speak to him. He told us to file a police report on the matter. We went to police station and filed a report that there was a 23-year-old with a minor. My sister was 15. We went back to my father's house and I asked Lisa to come home with me. I told her not to worry about what happened but to come home with me. She refused adamantly. I was surpirsed because she would usually want to come to my house.

10.33am - I did not tell Lisa about the police report so as not to aggravate matters. My father asked me to take her mobile, Mark took it, but there was a commotion because she wanted it back.

10.35am - She called my father's partner who was in London at the time. We did not want to leave her with the housekeeper alone. So Bella's mother Lucy came at about 8pm.

10.36am - After she settled in, I went home. Before I left, I agreed with Lucy to go back the following morning at 4.45am. Lucy had just left some three or four minutes earlier. At about 7am, the housekeeper came to tell me that Lisa was not in her bedroom.

10.38am - I could not find her anywhere so I called Mark to let him know. In the meantime, I went to l-Ibragg because I knew Erin lived there. It was a futile exercise but I was looking for my sister. When Mark arrived, we filed a missing persons report. I did not tell my dad anything about it. I was hoping that by the time he arrived, we would have found her. He could not do anything from abroad anyway and he was on his way back. We returned home to watch the CCTV footage and could not see anything. I still have no idea how she got out. I called her on her mobile but it was not in a position to respond. At 10am, the police came and embarked on their investigations.

10.42am - I went into her bedroom. There was a letter, I opened it and gave it to the police. I went to the police headquarters and my dad came there... It was a waiting game.

10.43am - Cross examination.

10.44am - I am 21 years older than her.

10.45am - Mr Zahra continues - I cannot say i was that close to her. There is a gap and there is the gender difference. We usually met on Sundays.

10.48am - I saw self-inflicted cuts and spoke to her about them. They were superficial cuts on her arms and thighs which would still show when she grew up... I do not even know what is normal any longer with people this age. I asked her several times whether something was bothering her but she was evasive. I thought it was part of the rebellion stage... I didn't monitor her Facebook.

10.51am - On the way home, I was wondering why a 23-year-old was with a 15- year-old but I was just wondering.

10.57am - Mario Spiteri Maempel, owner of Royal Pharmacy in Republic Street, Valletta, takes the witness stand.

10.59am - A customer came asking for aspirin on March 18. He took three boxes with 32 pills in each. The case continues next month.

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