Man accused of hiding murder victim faces charges of identity fraud

A man accused of helping to hide the body of Eleanor Mangion Walker has been charged with falsifying official documents this morning after the court compiling evidence against him in the murder case was told that police had found different ID documents bearing his photo.

Kristijan Zekic is charged with having helped hide Mangion Walker's body after her murder in a Swieqi garage on 3 July last year. The victim's estranged husband was charged with her murder after the woman's body was discovered in a disused warehouse in Qormi.

When he had been arraigned in August, Zekic also faced charges related to breaching bail conditions relating to other criminal proceedings where he is accused of drug trafficking and the possession of an unlicensed firearm.

At the end of this morning's sitting, the prosecution declared that it had no further evidence to exhibit against Zekic with regards to the Mangion Walker murder.

But uncertainty as to the accused's real identity was raised this morning when police witnesses told the court that Russian-born Zekic, who has a Slovenian ID card, also held a passport from Uzbekistan in the name of Adamjohn Niyazov.

Drugs squad police inspector Gabriel Micallef testified that an Uzbek passport in the name of Niyazov, bearing a picture of the accused, had been seized from the accused's apartment. During questioning, he had denied knowledge of the passport despite the picture being his and insisted that he was Kristjian Zekic with a Slovenian ID card, Inspector Micallef told presiding magistrate Ian Farrugia.

Inspector Micallef added that police experts had established the passport as being false and the ID as genuine, but that Interpol had subsequently said the reverse was true and he Slovenian identity was later also found to be “completely false” and the Uzbek authorities passport to be genuine.

Cross-examined by Zekic's lawyer, Giannella De Marco, the inspector said he said he had arrived at the scene shortly after the man's arrest. When the defence suggested that the ID card had been found in a wallet recovered from the car and not on his person, he replied that it “could be but I am informed differently.”



Minutes after that sitting was over, Zekic was hauled to another courtroom and arraigned before duty magistrate Anthony Vella on charges of falsifying immigration documents and knowingly using false documents. He denied the charges. Bail was not requested.

Police Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kylie Borg are prosecuting Zekic in both cases.