A court today heard of a strained relationship between a Ukrainian woman found dead in a lift shaft in St Paul's Bay last week, and her husband, who stands accused of her murder.

Anna Pavlova, a friend of the victim, said that Sergii Nykytiuk, 37, had asked his wife, Liudmyla Nykytiuk, 35, whether she had cheated on him, while she had declared she wanted to walk out.

Ms Pavlova used to live with Liudmyla Nykytiuk and a friend, Romano before moving to another apartment in the same block.

Shortly afterwards, the victim's husband arrived and moved into the apartment with his wife and their friend, Romano. Ms Pavlova said that her first impression of Mr Nykytiuk was that he was easy going and liked to joke.

She then realised that they would argue a lot and he was jealous of her and would constantly ask her if she was in love with someone else and if she had an intimate relationship with someone else while he was gone.

The witness said that the victim had confided in her that her husband used to hit her, however she never noticed any marks on her face compatible with hits to the face.

Taking the witness stand, a friend of Ms Pavlova's daughter, Oleksii, said that on the day in question the accused had knocked on the door looking for his wife.

In the afternoon as Ms Pavlova came back from work, the victim had told her that she wanted to leave her husband.

She had gone back to the apartment to pick up her clothes and shortly afterwards her husband appeared and asked her back to the apartment to discuss matters. The victim reluctantly accepted.

At around 8 a.m. the following morning Romano and Mr Nykytiuk knocked on the door and asked for a screwdriver as they said that the victim had fallen down the shaft and they wanted to open a door to get to her.

The witness said that he did not give them the screwdriver but went to look down the shaft himself and saw what looked like the victim at the bottom.

He went downstairs and found Romano and Mr Nykytiuk trying to open a wooden door by the bottom of the shaft. Oleksii said he kicked the door in and found the victim lying face down. He felt her pulse but she was already dead.

At that point, Mr Nykytiuk started crying and asked why she had left him and how he was going to live without her.

Testifying Romano Kovacuk, said that he has been living in Malta for the past five months and on the Saturday before the incident he had organised a birthday party. Mr Nykytiuk became aggressive and called his wife a prostitute.

One time he remembered that their fighting became violent and he punched her in the face. She said that she did not love him anymore and did not want to live with him.

It got to such a point that he threatened to kill her and throw her in the sea, he said.

The case continues.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino prosecuted.

Legal aid lawyer Renzo Porsella Flores represented the accused.