Woman told police she stabbed husband as 'self defence' from drunken assault

A magistrate presiding the compilation of evidence against a woman accused of murdering her partner has heard a police officer testify that she had informed the police that she had stabbed her husband in the genitals “in self defence”, after which he tried to stab himself in the abdomen.

44-year-old Mayumi Santos Patacsil from the Philippines stands accused of the murder of Marcelino Montalban Saraza, her partner of four years. She is also accused of fabricating evidence, tampering with evidence and making a false report to the police.

On July 2 this year, police officers had found Saraza’s body, face down and covered with a sheet at his home in Mellieha after being alerted to the murder by the alleged perpetrator herself. The victim was stabbed multiple times in the chest and neck, police said.

Several witnesses testified before magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo when the case resumed on Monday.

A WPC from the Domestic Violence Unit told the court how, on July 2 at around 2:04am, she had been sent to Qawra where Patacsil had filed a report about an argument she had with the victim, claiming that he had been drunk and had threatened to kill her and cut off her head.

“During the argument, he had approached her with a kitchen knife, telling her this,” said the officer. She had knife wounds to the palms of her hands as well as bite marks, said the officer.

Patacsil had told the policewoman that she had stabbed her husband in self-defence, she said. “She [Patacsil] said that to defend herself she had stabbed her husband in the genitals. As he fell forward, he had tried to stab himself in the abdomen, she said. She was escorted to MDH and in the meantime, Marcellino’s body was found at the flat. Mayumi was placed under arrest.”

Earlier in the sitting flatmates of the accused’s had also testified. One of them, Dragana Vessalinovic testified that she had been sleeping in her room with her daughter on the night of July 2, when she heard the couple fighting. “My husband was telling them not to fight, to keep it calm because the neighbours were complaining.”

She had spoken to the police and had released a statement about the murder, which she confirmed on oath this morning.

Asked by prosecuting lawyer George Camilleri as to who she had heard arguing, she replied . “Marcellino and Mayumi.” She recognised the accused in the courtroom.

The witness added that she had handed the police a series of messages which she had received from the accused, together with Facebook messages from the woman.

Another witness, Marlon Ranada Bautista from the Philippines, also testified. Bautista, a former neighbour of the accused and victim, explained that he had been summoned to the Police Headquarters to be questioned about the “Mayumi case.” “Mayumi is a bus driver, part time colleague of my friend, Marcellino,” he explained in broken English. He said he had known the couple since 2019, as the drivers used to share accommodation in a large block of apartments at the time. He specified that he was not living there at the time Marcellino died, but was living nearby.

On the night of the killing he recalled, he had been about to go to sleep, when he heard someone buzzing another apartment’s doorbell at around 12 or 1230am. It was Mayumi, he said, adding that he didn’t want to talk to her. “She is problem. They always fighting,” he told the court. Bautista recognised the accused in court on Monday.

Defence lawyer Francesca Zarb asked whether he had ever spoken to Mayumi. “I spoke to her,” he replied. “I am a bus driver (too) so I would ask her about her husband…some 10 times, maybe… She would go to my flat to massage my wife,” he said.

Asked how he knew she was trouble, he said that another driver had told him she was always fighting, he said. Further cross-examination was reserved.

Bautista’s wife was unable to tender her testimony today, as there was only one Tagalog interpreter available, who was already assisting the accused. She will testify in another sitting.

At the end of the court session, Magistrate Farrugia Frendo decreed that she had seen sufficient evidence to place the accused under indictment, sending the acts of the case back to the AG. The case will continue in January.

Inspector Shawn Pawney prosecuted, together with lawyer George Camilleri from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Francesca Zarb, Ryan Ellul and Tiziana Micallef are defence counsel.