She recognised his hand beneath the white sheet that covered his badly disfigured face after he was shot in the head and, running up to the body, she "just wanted to wake him up and take him home".

Mary Ferriggi gave a heart-wrenching account of the morning her husband Alphonse was killed shortly after leaving home to start a day's work delivering mail to Bank of Valletta branches.

She was testifying in the trial by jury of Joseph Zammit, 52, who stands charged with murdering Mr Ferriggi. He is also accused of theft, stealing a car and damaging the bank's property.

Ms Ferriggi recounted how on that fateful morning, at about 4 a.m., her husband woke up to make her coffee and told her to wait at home because as soon as he finished his first rounds of delivering mail he would return and take her to work.

However, at about 6 a.m. the news was already on the radio waves.

Her mother-in-law rang up in panic asking whether she heard the news about the hold-up in front of the bank in San Ġwann. "It's him, I know it's him," she said.

Ms Ferriggi replied that it couldn't be her husband because he had only just left home. But the mother-in-law urged her to ring him up on his mobile phone.

She took the advice and kept ringing until a man answered, telling her she couldn't speak to her husband right away. He then cut. She tried again but the connection stopped and, feeling confused, she left their 12-year-old son asleep and went to San Ġwann to see for herself what had happened.

As soon as she got there, she first saw police tape and men standing around. She walked towards the scene and immediately recognised her husband's arm jutting out from beneath a white sheet he was covered with.

"I lost it at that point. I ran up to him. I just wanted to wake him up and take him home," she said, breaking into tears as the court room fell silent.

"I wished he never went to work that day and I wondered how I was going to tell our son". Footage from the security cameras outside the bank showed the seconds before her husband was brutally murdered.

A black Volkswagen Golf drove up next to the bank where Mr Ferriggi was unloading mail to be placed into the aluminium two-way post box. No one was identifiable in the footage as the images were too dark but the victim could clearly be seen hitting the floor after he was shot.

An eerie silence engulfed the courtroom as disturbing pictures of Mr Ferriggi's badly wounded face and head were shown to the jurors. At that point, forensic experts were explaining that he had died from a direct shot to the left hand side of his head, resulting in a collapse.

Although none of the attackers could be identified, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino testified on Monday that two men, Ninu Frendo and Dominic Chircop, had led the police to four men after Mr Frendo had his suspicions as to who had murdered Mr Ferriggi.

The officer said that Mr Frendo had actually gone up to the accused and, without any prompting, according to what the man told the police, Mr Zammit told him that he was not the one who killed the bank messenger.

Mr Zammit later said in a police statement that he was the one asked to drive the getaway car and his only involvement was to wait in the car in San Ġwann near some fields.

Mr Frendo gave evidence yesterday but his testimony was heard behind closed doors.

Mr Chircop also testified yesterday saying that on one occasion after the murder he had gone to a garage belonging to Mr Frendo to make his monthly payment in connection with the purchase of a car. As he walked in, he overheard a revealing argument between the accused and Mr Frendo.

Mr Frendo, according to Mr Chircop, was shouting, telling Mr Zammit to remove his car from his garage. Mr Zammit was then heard saying: "I told him not to shoot him. I stayed in the field".

The accused looked very worried and was shaking after the argument, Mr Chircop added. Some months later, Mr Chircop said he had spoken to Mr Frendo and asked whether he would accompany him to the police in order to recount what he had heard.

Rita Gauci, the girlfriend of the accused for 22 years, testified that on the morning of the murder he had been dragged out of his home by three of his friends: Richard Grech, known as Iz-Zinanna, James Vella, Il-Frejżer and Chris Scerri, known as Gazzetti or Buttuni.

She said the three men had turned up at her door asking for her boyfriend. She tried to prevent him from going, saying she had a bad gut feeling about the whole thing but she said Mr Grech was particularly aggressive and her boyfriend eventually left.

They told her not to get involved in men's business.

The case continues.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja from the Attorney General's Office prosecuted assisted by Nadine Sant, Maurizio Cordina and Jason Grima.

Lawyers David and Stephen Farrugia Sacco and Josè Herrera appeared for Mr Zammit.