Girl, 12, was stabbed in the heart by mother’s ex, court hears
A girl who “miraculously” survived a vicious attack by her mother’s former partner was stabbed in the heart and lost up to 40 per cent of her blood, doctors testified yesterday.
The court heard how the mother was in a three-year relationship with the accused, Nazzareno Dalli, and how he refused to accept the fact that she wanted to end the relationship.
The court also heard how Dalli, known as Ronald, had spent the evening before the alleged accident out with friends and family members drinking and taking drugs. During a police interrogation, Dalli said that, after taking a particular substance in his drink, he “did not remember what happened next”.
Dalli, 43, is charged with the attempted murder of her daughters, who are 12 and 15 years old, in a home in Triq San Tumas, Marsa on March 9.
He is also charged with attacking the girls, causing them grievous bodily harm and holding them against their will.
He further accused of carrying a sharp and pointed object without a licence, drug possession, illegally working as a private guard and recidivism.
Dalli is pleading not guilty.
The compilation of evidence on the trial of Dalli began yesterday, with the court hearing from parties involved in the investigation.
The mother told the court that, around noon on March 9, she left home to go shopping.
She recalled the shock when she returned home to see her son out in the street with blood on him. Police were standing outside her home and did not let her enter the building.
“I was in a big shock. They told me that my daughter lost a lot of blood and I was crying... when they brought her out. She was covered in blood and I didn’t recognise her,” she said.
She recalls seeing her other daughter on the roof and was worried she was going to jump.
After accompanying her daughters in an ambulance to Mater Dei Hospital, she spent a restless night “crying and panicking”.
Medical staff told her it was a “miracle” her daughter survived.
She said she never gave Dalli a key and suspected that he somehow managed to make a copy. When asked about Dalli’s motive, she said she wanted to end the relationship.
She told the accused they should end their three-year relationship as they were
“A ‘miracle’ her daughter survived
not getting along but he refused to accept. One evening, he went outside her home and he was banging on the main door. She told him she could call the police if he refused to leave.
When defence lawyer Mario Mifsud was to cross-examine the mother, she interrupted him and repeated what Dalli had once told her: “Mill-ħabs toħroġ, imma mil-qabar ma’ tqumx” (One can leave prison, but not the grave).
Stab woundS in the heart, lungS and broken ribS
Mater Dei emergency doctors Josef Mifsud and Fatma Kablan, who treated the two girls, also testified. Mifsud went into great detail about the critical conditions of the 12-year-old girl, who sustained 16 stab wounds.
He said the young girl was in a state of confusion and had lost around 30 per cent to 40 per cent of her blood. Emergency doctors administered three bags of blood to the patient.
Once she was treated in the emergency department, a CT scan was carried out and established internal bleeding in her stomach.
The girl’s heart and lungs had been penetrated and parts of her spleen and liver were torn. There were also puncture wounds in her left kidney and pancreas as well as broken ribs on the left side.
The girl had to be intubated to keep her breathing.
He said that Dalli told police inspector Ian Vella he could not believe what had happened to the girls and said he loved them as though they were his daughters.
“He was perplexed and could not understand what happened,” Vella said.
During the interrogation, Dalli confirmed he was working as a security guard at the Osiris bar, in Marsascala. He told the police how, after completing his duties at around 4am, he stayed at the bar with his sister and two Serbian nationals drinking and taking drugs.
Afterwards, they went to the Red Stars bar, in Żejtun where they continued to drink and take more drugs.
Dalli told the police how one of the Serbians had sold him another substance, which was put into his glass. He drank it, went to the bathroom, and said he could not recall what happened after that.
When asked to clarify what drugs had been taken, Vella said Dalli said he had taken cocaine. The other substance was not named.
Vella said that pictures posted on social media showed Dalli’s presence at both bars.
“The pictures also show the 30cm knife tucked in Dalli’s belt,” Vella said.
He said the pictures were captioned with the word “revenge”.
knife found covered in blood
A police officer went into detail about how, when they arrived at the scene, they saw a young boy outside the house wearing shorts and a vest and no shoes.
“He was worried and in a state of panic,” he said, adding how the young boy said Dalli had stabbed his family.
The police entered the Marsa home and saw the 30cm knife behind the entrance door, with the handle wrapped in a cloth and the blade covered in blood.
Officer Damion Galea said he heard cries from upstairs and when he went up the blood-stained stairs, he saw a young girl on the floor bleeding. When he lifted her shirt to see where the blood was
coming from, he saw many wounds on her belly, arms, and back.
He called for an ambulance and tried to stop the bleeding but it was very difficult. The girl had trouble breathing and she was close to being unconscious.
Officer Ramona Magro said that, while her colleague stayed with the younger girl, she went up to the roof as she was informed there was another victim on the washroom roof.
“When I asked her if she was injured, she showed me her hand, which was covered in blood and cuts,” Magro testified.
“The bone was showing in one of the cuts,” she said, her voice shaking.
Attorney general lawyers Etienne Savona and Manuel Grech prosecuted, together with police inspectors Ian Vella and Wayne Camilleri.
Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Nicholas Mifsud, Mario Mifsud, Jacob Magri and Franco Debono appeared for Dalli.
The case continues next month.