A witness in the compilation of evidence about the April 2005 murder of Simon Grech in Marsa, said today she could not remember having spoken to the police and a magistrate about the case, because she was high on drugs at the time.

Grech’s badly decomposed body was found in a field in Marsa. A Libyan man, Ismael Habech, and a Tunisian, Faical Mohouachi, stand accused of the murder.

Dorianne Galea said she knew the deceased and she also remembered that Ismael Habech had a relationship with him. They used to meet in private, and loved each other.

However she could not remember much.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino read out parts of her statement to the inquiring magistrate to remind her.

He said that in her statement, the witness had said she had asked Ismael whether he was still in a relationship with Grech. Ismael replied in the negative, saying his son would not like to see him with a gay man.

The inspector said the witness had also told the police she had heard a Libyan man, known as Abdul, who lived in Mosta, saying that Ismael had asked him whether a dead body could be identified after 20 days. The Libyan said he could even be identified after 100 years.

Simon Gtrech had been found in a field near HSBC Bank close to the roundabout at Is-Salib tal-Marsa by members of the police vice squad after having been reported missing more than a week previously. He was in an advanced stage of decomposition and had been stabbed some 20 times.