Man accused of Mintoff Bland stabbing did not turn knife on himself, says lawyer

The lawyer defending Gheorghe Popa, the Romanian man accused of the attempted murder of his former partner Yana Mintoff Bland, the 65-year-old daughter of former prime minister Dom Mintoff and her son, has indicated that he will be challenging the claim that Popa had stabbed himself and then set fire to the woman's villa.

Popa has been in police custody for the past 8 months after being accused of stabbing Mintoff Bland and her son in October 2016 at the Tarxien villa that was once home to the late Labour Prime Minister.

The stabbing was alleged by the prosecution to have followed an argument, motivated by Popa's jealousy, over suspicions that Mintoff Bland had been seeing someone else.

Popa, who was found hiding up a nearby tree, while holding his intestines from spilling out of one of his four, allegedly self-inflicted, stab wounds, is also accused of setting her Tarxien property alight after the incident.

There were judicial precedents whereby persons who had been charged with murder, and not attempted murder, had been granted bail, argued defence lawyer Benjamin Valenzia.

The simple fact that Popa is not Maltese was not a ground for the refusal of bail, Valenzia submitted, pointing out that this principle had been confirmed by several judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, some of which had been against Malta.

The lawyer asked the court to order his client's release from custody, asking the court to take into account the fact that “his means have diminished since his incarceration.”

Prosecuting lawyer Giannella Busuttil argued against the accused's release, arguing that it was “only thanks to two things that he isn't charged with murder today. First of all the intervention of her son who went to her aid when she started screaming for help and secondly, the fact that Mintoff Bland had been carrying a suitcase with the accused's clothes which she used to protect her.” The accused had been armed with a knife, not his bare hands, added the lawyer.

Even after Mintoff Bland's son and his friends had intervened and stopped the assault, the accused had set fire to the house, the prosecutor said. “After doing all this, the accused turned the weapon on himself and grievously wounded himself. We are talking about an accused, asking for bail, who is eminently untrustworthy and unstable.”

Mintoff Bland, who is being assisted by lawyer Joe Giglio, was also present for this morning's sitting, taking notes as she has done in practically every court sitting in the proceedings against Popa.

The prosecution suggested that there was a “serious and real” risk of other crimes against the victims, similar to those already committed, occurring were Popa to be released. A previous bail request had been refused as the court of magistrates had said it was not convinced that the situation would repeat itself, Busuttil pointed out.

Furthermore, the accused had no ties to Malta other than through Mintoff Bland and she had already declared their relationship to have “ended irreversibly,” submitted the prosecutor.

The prosecution had done its utmost to bring all of its evidence in the shortest possible time and had declared its evidence closed after only 7 months, she said. “In this case, the AG is strongly objecting to bail and the stultification of these proceedings.”

In his reply, Valenzia pointed to the testimony of a psychiatrist who had examined Popa, who had told the court that the accused posed no risk to himself or to other people, so much so that he had not kept him under observation. The lawyer said that he had no objection to a further examination.

“The prosecution has already presumed my client's guilt. But their version is not sacrosanct and the defence has made its preparations, ” said the lawyer. The defence contended that the wounds suffered by Popa had not been self-inflicted and added that there was no indication that the accused had started the fire at the villa.

Judge Antonio Mizzi announced that he would be issuing a decree on the matter from chambers.