A will drawn up by an elderly woman has been declared null because the woman was incapable of drawing it up and one of the two mandatory witnesses had not actually been present, a court concluded.

Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff delivered two judgments after the brother and nephews and nieces of the late Josephine Camilleri filed suits against another niece, Josephine Saliba.

The court heard that Mrs Camilleri was a childless widow who died in 2014, aged  84. The plaintiffs had expected to inherit her as she had always said that she did not want to draw up a will. However, upon her death, they discovered that she had drawn up a will three months prior to her death, nominating Josephine Saliba as sole heir.

The plaintiffs attacked the validity of the will on grounds that Mrs Camilleri did not have the mental faculty requisite for drawing up such. They also claimed that one of the two witnesses was not present as he had been at work at the time.

The court heard that shortly before her demise Mrs Camilleri was in a confused mental state and bedridden. Ms Saliba was her principal carer and made it difficult for the other relatives to visit her. It resulted that Mrs Camilleri had died alone at home while Ms Saliba was at work and had not been attended by a doctor. Nor had she received the last rites.

Mrs Camilleri had granted both a general power of attorney and a specific power of attorney in favour of Ms Saliba. Both were enrolled in the records of notary Anne Marie Tonna.

The specific power of attorney empowered Ms Saliba to carry out banking transactions on Mrs Camilleri's behalf. In two years, Ms Saliba had transferred €146,000 from Mrs Camilleri's account to another account, also in Mrs Camilleri's name. Withdrawals of €600 a day were being made from one of these accounts and the bank had called for the assistance of its Investigation and Fraud Section as such withdrawals were not normal in the case of elderly persons.

The bank had questioned Mrs Camilleri who had no idea how much money she had in the bank. It was then, on May 12, 2014 that the bank stopped Mrs Camilleri's internet banking facilities and her ability to withdraw money from ATMs.

On the following day Mrs Camilleri was examined by psychiatrist Joseph Vella Baldacchino who declared her fit to draw up a will, and her will was drawn up that very same day.

Mr Justice Mintoff found that Mrs Camilleri had been an extremely vulnerable person. She was bedridden, incontinent, left alone for many hours in a state which did not reflect the wealth she possessed. The independent testimony of the bank officials who had questioned Mrs Camilleri confirmed that she did not know how much money she had.

The court said Ms Saliba had not taken care of Mrs Camilleri's finances and had withdrawn thousands of euros from her accounts without giving any convincing explanation, even though the scope of the power of attorney was that of encashing a pension.

In a second judgment the court also found that Mrs Camilleri's will was null and void because it had not been witnessed according to law. Her will specified that it had been witnessed by a notary and her husband, who was employed by Mcast.

However, plaintiffs claimed that at the time the will was drawn up, Mr Cassar had been at his place of employment and could not have witnessed the will.

The attendance sheet at Mcast showed that Mr Cassar had signed in for work at 7.30am and had not left work until 5.35pm. This notwithstanding, Mr Cassar was supposed to have witnessed a will at Mrs Camilleri's home in Żejtun at 8.45am. A representative of Mcast testified that on the day in question Mr Cassar had reported for work 15 minutes earlier than usual and left 45 minutes later than usual.

The court ordered Ms Saliba to refund all of Mrs Camilleri's assets to the plaintiffs. Ms Saliba is expected to appeal the ruling.