Updated | Police questioning 33-year-old man over Ta' Giorni murder

The 41-year-old victim, Caroline Magri, from St Julian's is thought to have died of multiple knife wounds. 

A 33-year-old man is being held by the police in connection with the brutal murder of Caroline Magri, the 41-year-old mother.

Informed sources confirmed that the person being held for questioning is a man from Togo. The man is reportedly denying any involvement in the murder.

Magri, whose body was found at a private residence on George Badger Street, Ta’ giorni, was killed on Friday.

A police source said the woman was found with a slashed throat and multiple stab wounds. A man she lived with made the discovery.

Eyewitness told MaltaToday on Friday that the woman’s anguished daughter was seen emerging from the house, after the unknown assailant left the building. Magri’s daughter was heard screaming “my mother has been killed”, witness said.

Just over a month ago, Magri was arraigned in court after a fight broke out in a Floriana apartment.

She had been arraigned along with a 33-year-old man from Togo, identified as Djibril Ganiou who has been described as her partner. The two were accused of grievous bodily harm and assault on two men who lived in a Floriana apartment.

Magri had also been accused of breaching several court sentences.

Court reports dating back to 2015 show that Ganiou had been investigated by the police over domestic violence, with the man then being accused of resisting police arrest by running away and spitting at the police.

In September 2015, the Togolese national was initially arrested after his Maltese partner – Grima – sought police help because she was being threatened. Media reports of the court sitting recount how the woman appeared in court with a black eye.

The charges of domestic violence were dropped after Magri told the court that she had forgiven the accused and was dropping the changes against him – reforms to the domestic violence legislation will now ensure that, even if a victim ‘forgives’ the perpetrator, the police cannot drop their case in court.

On Friday, neighbours claimed that the woman was the mother of seven children, and that they suspect she was a sex worker. Some also complained that she had “entertained visits by many men” on various occasions in the past two years since she moved into the street.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera is leading the inquiry.