Drama teacher Erin Tanti spent three days in the hospital's Intensive Therapy Unit to be treated for "superficial injuries", a consultant general surgeon told a court this morning, despite fractures to his ribs and lumbar vertebrae.

Angela Sultana said Mr Tanti was in a stable condition and the fractures he had sustained to his ribs did not require any surgical interventions. He was treated with "mild pain relief".

She was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Mr Tanti, who is pleading not guilty to murdering his 15-year-old student, Lisa Marie Zahra, and assisting her to commit suicide on the cliffs on March 19.

He is also charged with defiling her, participating in sexual acts with her and being in possession of indecent images of her.

Dr Sultana said Mr Tanti had severe bruising to his back and chest. He also had air trapped between his lungs and chest wall and needed a minor intervention to release this air. 

She said he was also complaining of pain to his abdomen, close to his bladder, so she ordered a fresh CT scan which found nothing of concern, except bruising to the abdomen muscles. 

He was admitted to the ITU on March 19, where he was kept until March 22 when he was transferred to a ward. On March 25 he was due for release but since the patient had "visual hallucinations", the psychiatrist ordered that he be transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital. 

"For me he was fit to go home but the psychiatrist said he should go to MCH because of the hallucinations,"she said.

Under cross examination, Dr Sultana said Mr Tanti must have been admitted to the ITU because of the injuries he had sustained. Asked to confirm that the ITU was packed that day but space was made available, Dr Sultana said she could not say as she was not the doctor who examined Mr Tanti and decided to admit him to the ITU. 

"The patient must satisfy certain criteria to be admitted to ITU but if there is a bed available the patient is taken there. After he was checked at emergency, a decision was taken to admit him to ITU," she said.

She said she classified the fractures as superficial "because they healed on their own" and that according to the hospital file, Mr Tanti was conscious throughout his stay in hospital. 

Defence lawyer Michael Sciriha also asked whether Mr Tanti had a swollen liver. Dr Sultana replied that this would have led to the CT scan. 

Lucy Giordamina, the mother of Tony Zahra's partner, testified that she often stayed with Lisa Marie when the need arose. She said she considered herself to be close to Lisa Marie but said she never confided in her about her personal problems, an obvious reference by the defence to the fact that she used to self harm. 

The case continues in January. 

Police Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Josric Mifsud prosecuted. Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha are appearing for Mr Tanti while lawyers Joe Giglio, Giannella de Marco and Steve Tonna Lowell appeared for the Zahra family. 

 

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.