Some documents from the hospital file of the late Margaret Mifsud, the lawyer found murdered in her car in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in April last year, were missing and could not be traced, the court heard this morning.
Testifying in the case against the victim's former husband Nizar El Gadi, who has been charged with killing Dr Mifsud by applying pressure to her chest, effectively stopping her from breathing, an official from Mater Dei Hospital, representing the hospital superintendent, exhibited Dr Mifsud's medical file, which contained X-Rays but said some documents were missing and could not be traced.
Police sergeant Manuel Mifsud testified that the woman had been found on the driver’s seat of her car, with her head leaning on the window.
He said that during investigation he phoned her husband and asked if he could speak to him. Mr El Gadi asked him what had happened. Mr Mifsud said he asked him where he was but he did not tell him and when he asked him again he said he was far away and hung up.
Mr Mifsud said he called Mr El Gadi some 20 times before he told him he was at his lawyer's and that he would go to the station when he was ready.
Mr Mifsud said he waited for Mr El Gadi at the Birkirkara police station and at one point the accused ran in. The officers took him to the police headquarters and there he fell on the floor. An ambulance was called.
Taking the witness stand, Dr Mifsud’s colleague, auditor Paul Bugeja, said that he could recall that he was at the office at one time and wanted to speak to Dr Mifsud over a liquidation. She was called to sign some documents but she asked to go on the following day because of family problems.
When she went to sign the papers, she said that her former husband had threatened her. This was one to two weeks before she was found dead.
On the night before she died, she was at a farewell party at the Fortress Restaurant in Xemxija, Mr Bugeja said, adding that he did not speak to her as such as she was sitting on the opposite side further down the table.
David Busuttil, another auditor, said he had known Dr Mifsud for about six years. She never spoke to him about her personal problems and what he knew about them was through people at the office.
The prosecution asked for an expert to reconstruct the route the accused allegedly took from the Empire Cinema to Champs Pastizzeria in Bahar iC-Caghaq, as well as the walk from the scene of the crime to the Empire Cinema. The court nominated Robert Musumeci to carry out the task.