A 36-year-old man has been charged with the fatal stabbing which happened in the early hours of last Wednesday in Birkirkara.

Etienne Bartolo, from Birkirkara and unemployed, pleaded not guilty to willful homicide but was remanded in custody as he did not request bail.

Etienne Bartolo, known as 'il-vojt', was remanded in police custody. Photo: Facebook

The victim, Roderick Grech, was found unconscious in a pool of blood in Tumas Fenech Street, Birkirkara at about 1.10am. He subsequently succumbed to injuries and died, police said this morning.

Police inspector Kurt Zahra said that the accused, nicknamed 'il-vojt', was arrested on the strength of the testimony given by a witness who had assisted the victim soon after he had been stabbed. The prosecution said that the victim had murmured the suspect's name who was consequently arrested.

The court heard that during police interrogation, Mr Bartolo admitted he had met the victim to buy some drugs. However, a fight broke out when the accused allegedly requested to pay him on the following day.

The court acceded to the defendant's request for this crucial witness to be summoned in the next sitting.

The victim was well-known to the police. In August 2012, he had admitted his involvement in an armed robbery of The Convenience Shop in Birkirkara.

The case had fuelled controversy when it emerged that another suspect had been charged in court by mistake. Mr Grech had been arraigned two days after Darryl Luke Borg, who had originally been charged with the crime, was released after it turned out that he was innocent.

The blunder had prompted the government to launch an inquiry into the reasons why the police had arraigned the wrong man.

Lawyer Edward Gatt was legal counsel while Franco Debono and Yanika Vidal were parte civile for the victim's family.