Assailant in frenzied Raħal Ġdid knife attack told police he had 'heard a voice in his head'

A man accused of trying to stab his sleeping brother-in-law to death last month, told the police that a voice in his head had urged him on.

Inspector Keith Rizzo took the witness stand on Monday as the compilation of evidence against Robert Frendo from Raħal Ġdid began before Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia.

At the end of today's sitting the court decreed that it had seen sufficient evidence to merit the indictment of the 63-year-old defendant for the attempted murder of his brother-in-law, whom he is accused of having stabbed 13 times.

Inspector Rizzo told the court that on February 21, the Raħal Ġdid police station had received a report of a knife attack in Triq il Lampuka. Police officers had immediately been dispatched to the scene where they found the victim already receiving treatment from an ambulance crew.

The man who had been stabbed told the officers that his assailant was his wife’s brother. “He said that he had been asleep when, all of a sudden, he felt a great pain in his heart and woke up to find Frendo stabbing him.” The police had received previous reports involving the men, he added.

The owner of a butcher’s shop opposite the residence had told the police that on the day of the attack, the victim had gone to his shop, and that two minutes later, Frendo had entered the shop asking for €2. Frendo’s sister had told the police that the defendant lived in the same house as her and the victim, who is also her husband. 

The police had gained entry to the residence from an upper floor with the assistance of the Civil Protection Department, Rizzo said, adding that large amounts of blood were observed on the sofa where the victim had been asleep and in other parts of the house.

The woman had been in shock, he said, telling the police that there had never been problems between Frendo and her brother. She also told officers that Frendo was schizophrenic and had an alcohol problem.

CCTV footage showed the defendant leaving the residence at around 9 and returning at 11, carrying a carton of wine, he added. 

Prosecutor Ramon Bonett Sladden asked the witness whether the defendant had been examined by a doctor and declared fit for interrogation before being questioned. He had, replied the inspector.

Frendo had been interrogated in the presence of a lawyer and had admitted to stabbing the man, going on to tell the police that he intended to kill him. “He said that he had been drunk at the time and had heard an internal voice saying ‘get him, get him, get him’...So he started to stab him,” said the inspector. Waking up after being stabbed the first time, the victim had asked his attacker why he was doing this, to which the defendant replied ”first, I am going to kill you and then I’m going to kill your wife.”

The victim managed to stumble down the stairs and leave the house, crossing the road to the butcher’s shop where he told the owner about what had happened. Eyewitnesses told the police that they had seen Frendo standing two blocks away, observing the aftermath of the stabbing.

At the end of today’s sitting, the court decreed that it had seen sufficient prima facie evidence to merit the defendant’s indictment. The case was adjourned to April.

Police inspectors Kurt Farrugia and Keith Rizzo, are prosecuting, assisted by prosecutors Ramon Bonett Sladden and Nathaniel Falzon from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyer Wilfrid Buttigieg assisted for the defendant as legal aid counsel only for today’s sitting, replacing lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit are appearing for the victim as parte civile.