Standing in the dock chewing gum and clutching five cassette tapes, Libyan Nizar Mustafa Al-Gadi was yesterday charged with murdering his former partner Margaret Mifsud, 31, in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in April.
No doubt this is a case of homicide
Dressed in a white T-shirt and baggy white trousers over green Nike trainers, the 34-year-old, who pleaded not guilty, did not show any sign of remorse. He was denied bail.
As he was ushered into court before Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona, Mr Al-Gadi cast a look at Dr Mifsud’s parents and smirked.
The father, whose eyes were red and teary, immediately turned his back on him to contain his anger. The lawyer’s mother, dressed in a black dress, remained staring forlornly ahead.
Mr Al-Gadi, who was charged under arrest, was also accused of handling stolen property – an iPhone 4 – relapsing, and committing a crime during the operative time of a suspended sentence.
After the death of his ex-girlfriend Mr Al-Gadi had gone to live at Tropicana Hotel in St Julian’s, but due to limited resources he had moved to a Sliema apartment – police did not know his exact address – and was planning on going to live in Swieqi.
His lawyer, Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani, said although the situation was unfortunate, Dr Mifsud’s autopsy showed she had “died a natural death” and since his client had always cooperated with the police there was no fear he would abscond.
This assertion was immediately contested by Police Inspector Keith Arnaud who told the court he had “no doubt this is a case of homicide”, and there was ample evidence to back this.
It is not clear what led the police to charge Mr Al-Gadi, but sources told The Sunday Times evidence had been collected over the past three months to link Mr Al-Gadi to Dr Mifsud’s death. The relationship between Dr Mifsud and Mr Al-Gadi, who fathered her two young girls, had been a troubled one. Just last month he was charged with trying to strangle her with string on March 24; three weeks later, on April 19, she was found dead in her car.
When her lifeless body was discovered in the driving seat of her Daihatsu Sirion, parked between bushes in a dirt road just off the Coast Road, suspicions were immediately raised when her handbag and mobile phone were not found, even though her colleagues had told police she was carrying a clutch bag the night before.
That night, at 11.30 p.m., Dr Mifsud had just given a colleague a lift home in Buġibba after a friend’s farewell party in Xemxija. She was meant to head home to Birkirkara where she lived with her parents and daughters – she never arrived.
An autopsy on the young mother indicated she might not have died of natural causes, as was initially thought, but the results were deemed inconclusive and the police had been waiting for further test results.
Her parents had never believed their daughter had died of a heart attack as she was “fit as a fiddle”.
Arthur Azzopardi and Manuel Mallia appeared parte civile for the Mifsud family.