A “serial killer” who allegedly robbed and killed an elderly woman nearly 26 years ago was apprehended after he boasted he had committed the crime but had never been caught, a court heard yesterday.
Saviour Mangion, 47, from Żejtun, managed to escape justice for 20 years until he was arrested in 2005.
He is now facing a trial by jury for killing 68-year-old Maria Stella Magrin on October 29, 1986, after gaining access to her Cospicua house to rob her.
He is also charged with illegal possession of a knife, stealing around €14,000 in cash and holding her against her will.
Prosecuting officer Nadine Sant told a panel of jurors that Mr Mangion was caught because someone had reported him to the police after hearing his boastful claim.
The case was “a very simple one”, she said. The crime was “of the worst sort” because it involved someone being killed “capriciously”.
Mr Mangion was expected to plead guilty before yesterday’s trial by jury began but changed his mind at the last minute. In July, he unsuccessfully tried to plead insanity so as not to stand trial.
He is already in prison serving a life sentence for the murder of Rosina Zammit, 54, in Safi in 1984. He was also jailed for 21 years for the murder of Francis Caruana in 1998. He stabbed both repeatedly.
Mr Mangion had been described as “Malta’s serial killer” by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono after his second conviction.
When yesterday’s trial began before Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano, Dr Sant explained how Mr Mangion, who was 21 at the time, used to associate with Leli Spiteri and his nephew Oswald Spiteri.
They knew Ms Magrin, who used to live in a house with no electricity. They decided to rob her and kill her so that she could never identify them.
Oswald Spiteri and Mr Mangion both admitted their involvement when they were apprehended 20 years after the crime.
Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said he received new information about the case in 2005 and arrested Mr Mangion, who at first denied his involvement but then gave a blow-by-blow account of how it happened.
The detailed account was precisely in line with what the inspector had seen in the photos taken by forensic experts in 1986. Mr Mangion had taken the police on site and even showed them the street they had passed through. The three split the Lm6,000 they had stolen.
According to the bill of indictment, Mr Mangion stabbed Ms Magrin 13 times, with Dr Sant saying that the impact was so forceful that the knife’s handle actually marked the woman’s body.
Leli Spiteri died in 2004 while Oswald Spiteri committed suicide in the police lock-up. The trial continues today.
Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is appearing for Mr Mangion.