The lawyer found murdered in her car in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in April had told her mother the accused had tried to strangle her, the victim's mother, Tessie Mifsud, told the court this morning.

Testifying in the case against Nizar El Gadi, who has been charged with killing Margaret Mifsud by applying pressure to her chest, effectively stopping her from breathing, Mrs Mifsud said her daughter was worried the accused would kill her.

Once he had tried to strangle her and after that the family packed his things and took them to the police station.

The victim had told her mother the accused had ordered her to close the windows and doors and get on her knees resting her torso on the sofa.

He then put a wire around her neck and asked her to choose between herself or the children.

Mrs Mifsud said her daughter had told her she prayed to Our Lady to forgive her sins and take her peacefully.

Mrs Mifsud said her daughter got married when she was 22 and separated after five or six years.

Her family helped her out and by the time she graduated she had two children. The accused used to live with the victim’s family at their home.

“They would always argue and he was very aggressive so she decided to separate… He was crafty and would never argue in front of me… From the minute he moved in he was always arrogant and treated our home as if it was his…

“When they went to Sliema to shop for me on a Saturday morning, he would grab the car keys and bark at her to leave the house. He never contributed anything to the marriage. When the youngest daughter was three weeks old, he left and we did not see him for about three years.

The victim always wanted to protect her children from harm.

“He used to be so jealous that she was a lawyer and would treat her like rubbish. He told her that if she left him, he would kill their children. He only wanted my daughter so that he could live here.”

She recalled how she confronted her daughter and she admitted he had beaten her up.

A few weeks before he killed her, she had said that he gave her a fright and hid in the car booth. He told her that it was to let her know that he knew everything about her. He also said that he used to train with Gaddafi and that he knew how to kill without leaving a trace.

“I thought he was joking.”

Mrs Mifsud said that on the day of the murder, the accused forced his younger daughter to tell him where their mother was going that night.

When the children found out that their mother died, the older daughter told her sister "mummy died because of you".