Abner Aquilina gloated about having sex with Dembska's corpse, former cellmate tells court

A former cellmate of Abner Aquilina has told a court that he was so disturbed by Aquilina’s repeated and detailed recounting of Paulina Dembska’s murder that he went to the police.

Aquilina stands accused of asphyxiating Dembska at the Independence Gardens in Sliema, on New Year’s Day 2022. It had emerged in previous court sittings that the killer then had sex with the girl’s body after killing her.

The inmate, who had shared a cell with Aquilina at the Forensic Unit for approximately one month, took the witness stand on Wednesday, telling the court that he was unable to stomach Aquilina laughing and joking about the crime any longer.

During the time he shared the cell with Aquilina, the defendant would repeat his story to new inmates, recalled the witness. “You’re always hearing the same yarn.”

“It tormented me for weeks and months and I felt I had to go speak to the inspector,” he said.

“I would hear Abner recount what happened. That he had wanted to have sex with his girlfriend but was unable to and so found this girl, tied her up with bandages…” he said.

“He had seen her [Dembska] feeding the cats. Attacked her…strangled her with bandages, he said, then he had sexual intercourse with her.” 

Aquilina had said this on many occasions, even outside his cell, said the man. “He said he would kill his lawyer, too.”

Asked how Aquilina would refer to Dembska, the witness said he did not use her name, but was unable to recall the word he used.

“He said he had sex with her corpse,” said the witness, adding that the defendant had laughed as he told him about witnesses who told the court that they had initially thought he was doing pushups. 

Aquilina would also regularly expose himself in the cell, added the witness. “He would play with his private parts as he was talking about her.”

The defendant had also told him about a previous relationship with a woman whom he did not name, he said.“He had not had sex with his girlfriend because he was afraid that her father would kill him,”  the witness recalled.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti, representing the victim’s family, took over questioning, asking whether the witness recalled anything else. “It was as if this woman possessed me. He [Abner] repeated the story so often, hammering it into my head that I couldn’t forget it,” replied the man  This particular statement seemed to amuse the defendant, who stifled a laughing fit as he sat in the dock. 

The witness confirmed that Aquilina had only told him he had sex with the victim when she was dead.

Cross-examined by Aquilina’s defence counsel Mario Mifsud, the witness was asked whether he had informed the police about Aquilina’s alleged threat to kill his lawyer, but the man was unable to remember.

Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia adjourned the sitting to August.

Prosecutors Darlene Grima and Anthony Vella are representing the Office of the Attorney General, assisting Inspectors Wayne Camilleri, Jonathan Ransley and Shaun Pawney. Lawyers Mario Mifsud and Nicholas Mifsud are defence counsel. Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Lara Dimitrijevic are appearing parte civile.