The defence in the trial of Pasqualino Cefai, the main accused of stabbing another man in a Gozo courtroom, pleaded today that there was no intention to kill and Mr Cefai had stopped the stabbing on his own free will.

Mr Cefai stabbed Joseph Portelli in the Gozo court on June 6, 2012 when they faced each other in a court case. Mr Portelli suffered at least 14 stab wounds.

Defence counsel Edward Gatt said that had his client wanted to commit murder, would he have done it in a courtroom before a magistrate?

That Mr Cefai had been carrying a penknife did not mean that he had intended to murder Mr Portyelli. It was not unusual for farmers to carry a penknife, he said.

The facts of the case, he said, pointed to his client causing serious injuries when blinded by passion, but he had not intended murder.

Lara Lanfranco, from the Attorney General’s Office, appealed to jurors to use their common sense.

Dr Lanfranco referred to an argument made by the defence and said that the AG was not choosing charges in random fashion. The charges, she argued, were  based on the facts of the case.

The facts were that the victim had 14 stab wounds and the stabbing continued when he was on the floor, two of them puncturing his bodily cavity.

She said one could not say what the aggressor's intention was unless one lived inside his head. But the facts were there, she said.

Moreover, it was not normal for one to go to court with a knife for whatever reason.

The accused, Dr Lanfranco said, went to court prepared to solve his problem once and for all if he did not get what he wanted.