Joseph Azzopardi, 40, also known as Iz-Ziki Zokk, has been jailed for 29 years after he was yesterday found guilty of the murder of Therese Agius, whose body was found dumped in the sea in 1999.

The sentence was delivered by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano after the 8-1 verdict by the jurors yesterday.

Moments after jurors yesterday declared  the verdict yesterday, Mr Azzopardi he vehemently protested his innocence, shouting at them “What have you done to me?”

Holding up a small silver cross, he yelled “My conscience is clear, before God I’m not guilty!” .

“What have you done to me?” he exclaimed again repeatedly.

As the jurors, visibly uncomfortable at the tirade, were led out of the courtroom, Mr Azzopardi stood up again and told them they would all be “condemned”, just like he had been, for what they had done to him.

Mr Azzopardi was completely calm this morning as the judge read the sentence, and just shook his lawyer's hand.

An escorting policeman managed to quieten him down. His lawyer, Malcolm Mifsud, then started making submissions on punishment and mentioned his client’s drug abuse problem, to which Mr Azzopardi hurriedly rolled his sleeves up and told the judge to look at the evidence of drug abuse on his arms. 

Ms Agius’s trussed up body was found 11 miles off the coast of Delimara, 10 days later after the murder took place in Gzira.

Taking the witness stand on Friday, her mother Mary said she had told Mr Azzopardi to leave her daughter alone, something which Therese thanked her for as he had been running after her and bothering her.

The prosecution convinced the jury it was Mr Azzopardi who had injected Ms Agius with the drug, at her request, in the apartment she used to rent out to prostitute herself. The girl took an overdose and he tied her hands and feet and threw her body into the sea.