A young woman accused of murdering her mother yesterday testified that two weeks before the death she had given her mum’s car keys to friends, who stand charged with stealing it.

The court case yesterday was over the theft. Both crimes occurred in early 2008: the mother, 50, was found in a pool of blood at her residence in the Mensija area of San Ġwann in February and two weeks earlier she had filed a report claiming her car had been stolen.

The woman, who was a minor at the time and cannot be named by court order, took the witness stand in the case against her two friends, who were also minors.

She told the court she was 13 or 14 years old at the time and her friends of the same age.

They would all drive down to Paceville in the car together with another man who also stands accused of the murder

Two weeks before her mother was found dead, she had handed the car keys over to the two friends, she said.

However, her mother filed a report about the incident, alleging that it had been stolen.

The case continues.