A quarrel over loud music in the early hours of yesterday ended tragically when a 27-year-old Serbian was stabbed to death in a block of apartments in Qawra.

Kristic Dragoljub, from Grocka, died a few minutes after the police arrived on the scene at Triq il-Merluzz, where a stabbing incident at Diana flats had been reported at around 2.15am.

Addressing a crime conference at police headquarters in Floriana yesterday evening, Assistant Commissioner Silvio Valletta said a 27-year-old Bulgarian man was due to be charged with murder today.

He added that more people could be arraigned but declined to give further details, saying that investigations were still under way.

The police said that from preliminary investigations carried out by the district police and the homicide squad, it transpired that the stabbing followed an argument in an apartment on the top floor involving two Macedonians, a Bulgarian and the victim.

Mr Valletta said all four were residing in Malta legally and the victim was a construction worker who had been on the island since October. He did not live in the block but had been invited over for drinks by one of the Macedonian men, who was his friend.

No drugs or banned substances were found in the flat and the three men were sober, although in a state of shock.

In the build-up to the incident, numerous complaints were made over the loud music being played in the apartment, Mr Valletta said.

The men had been repeatedly warned about making late night disturbances

The men were advised that the owner of the flats would be called to switch off their mains supply if they did not lower the volume immediately.

However, they failed to heed the advice and some time later their electricity supply was switched off.

According to the police, this triggered a misunderstanding among the men, with the Bulgarian being blamed for switching the power off.

Things came to a head and in the altercation that ensued the Bulgarian allegedly inflicted a single stab wound on the Serbian which penetrated his heart.

The police have not yet established whether the stabbing occurred inside the apartment or in the common area, given that the victim was found in the landing between the first and the second floors, with blood spattered along three flights of stairs.

There is also the possibility of a second arraignment as it is not yet clear whether the fight involved a third person.

The police said the weapon used in the stabbing was not a common kitchen knife, implying that the Bulgarian might have been carrying some sort of pocket knife.

Asked about a rubbish skip which was elevated by the police a few metres away from the murder scene, the police said initial suspicions that the murder weapon could have been hidden inside it proved to be unfounded. The weapon was found in another location.

The police said there was no history of conflict between the men but a number of neighbours who spoke to this newspaper said that before yesterday’s incident they had repeatedly been warned against causing late night disturbances, most recently last Saturday.

Asked whether the Bulgarian man had admitted to murdering his friend, the assistant commissioner replied that the police would not have acted so swiftly had they not had strong and irrefutable evidence in hand.

This was the second murder in a week following the killing of a man who was shot five times outside his apartment in Marsa.