Woman charged with murder of her partner takes the stand

The trial by jury against 48-year-old Mayumi Santos Patacsil, who stands accused of murdering her 44-year-old partner, Marcelino Montalban Saraza, in their apartment in Mellieha in 2021 continued before Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera.

The accused took the stand on Friday and testified in the ongoing proceedings against her.  

She testified that on 2 July 2021, the incident happened while she was inside the house with Marcelino and the baby. On the day, she said that her partner had hit her first and she retaliated because he wanted to engage in sexual intercourse and she didn’t want to.

She testified that he was hurting her and wanted to stab her because they were very mad at each other. Marcelino allegedly said he wanted to kill her, so she ran to her friend’s house to seek help. Her friends told her to call 112 and to report him to the Domestic Violence Unit.

“Can you tell us something about the knives?” the prosecution lawyer asked. She replied that Marcelino had grabbed the knife first, and the accused did so after.

She testified that her partner used to always be the first one to hurt her and that she normally never fought back, but on that day, she decided to fight back. “What do you mean fight back?” the lawyer asked. “I don’t know, I was very afraid”.  “Why were you afraid?” 

“I was afraid of him because he is a man and I am a woman and he is much stronger than me.” 

“When you left the building, how was Marcelino?” “I don’t know what happened to him, I just went to my friends to ask for help”. “ Can you describe the knife he threatened you with?" "I don’t remember," she said.

"What was said during the fight?" "I loved him, but I still wanted to separate from him. He always asked for a second chance." 

“Do you remember telling your friends that you stabbed Marcelino?” “I don’t remember, I was very afraid,” she said again. After constantly repeating the phrase “I do not remember”, the prosecution reminded her that she was under oath. 

She burst out crying when the lawyer mentioned how long Marcelino had abused her. Visibly hysterical, she said that her friend advised her to obtain a medical certificate.

The accused left the residence with her packed luggage and her important documents. “So you remembered what documents you took with you, but not what happened to him?" the lawyer asked. 

After her testimony ended, the defence addressed the jurors and argued that this was not a “cold-blooded killing” but rather a situation where the accused acted in self-defence, which tragically resulted in Saraza’s death.

“There is sufficient reasonable doubt to show that this is not a case of intentional homicide, and certainly not one of premeditated murder,” he stated. The defence lawyer also highlighted that the accused was unable to recall the precise sequence of events once the knives came into play, explaining that trauma victims often experience memory lapses during highly distressing moments.

“It’s evident that the woman remains deeply frightened even today,” he added.

He further criticised the police investigation, claiming that the evidence collected appeared to be selective and incomplete. 

Doctor outlines gruesome details

Pathologist Dr. Ali Salfraz’s testimony stood out in court. In his statement, Salfraz said that from the autopsy conducted on Saraza's body, it was found that the victim died due to a knife wound to the heart. He added that there was also another wound to the neck, but this had been inflicted post-mortem, as shown by the lack of blood from the wound which indicated that the heart had already stopped beating.

The first stab was strong enough to penetrate the chest cavity and caused a deep wound that pierced the liver and caused extensive hemorrhaging, resulting in the death of Saraza shortly afterward.

Forensic experts concluded that the victim died of hypovolemic shock, although the death was not immediate and ended after a few minutes. Shortly after stabbing the victim in the chest, she inflicted another wound on the right side of his neck, where she attempted to slit his throat, causing a longer but shallower incision with a different knife. 

Murder aftermath details

Shortly after allegedly killing Marcelino Montalban Saraza, the accused went to the Gender-Based and Domestic Violence Unit of the Police, where she reported that some time before midnight, she had an argument with her partner and that a knife had been used in the argument.
The prosecution stated that Mayumi Santos Patacsil made a domestic violence report claiming to be the victim, but only after about an hour and a half did she mention that a weapon had been involved in the argument.

Based on this information, Police Sergeant Joseph Attard went to the scene, where he saw the gruesome aftermath of the incident.

While investigations were being carried out in the residence, the accused remained at the Gender-Based and Domestic Violence Unit, where she was later informed that she was being held under arrest on suspicion of murdering her partner.

Police investigations also revealed that the accused had left the residence with a large suitcase after killing Saraza and went to another Filipino couple. However, they felt very uncomfortable and refused to let her sleep there that night. 

Further police investigations revealed that Mayumi Santos Patacsil had developed an obsession with her partner. She would often send confrontational and obsessive messages and calls to others, as she began to obsess over the possibility that her partner was with other women. She would send others to constantly check on Saraza’s whereabouts and activities.

Even her own neighbors confirmed that they often heard Patacsil arguing with her partner, while their neighbors described him as a quiet man. She would constantly accuse him of being unfaithful.

The accused did not answer any questions during her interrogation

During Friday’s hearing, it was confirmed that the accused did not answer any questions during the investigation. She chose to remain silent and not provide her version of events, a stance she has the legal right to take. 

During the interrogation, the accused gave varying accounts about the nature of her relationship.

She refused to answer direct questions about what happened on the night of the incident, including whether it was she who inflicted the fatal injuries. She admitted that she was jealous of him but insisted that he too was jealous of her,  particularly about her Facebook friends. 

The accused continued to refuse to answer several other related questions and, at other times, simply denied what the investigators were telling her with a shake of her head or remained silent. When shown photos of Marcelino covered with a red blanket, she refused to look and kept saying she didn’t remember.

When asked how she felt during the victim’s final moments, she only said "sorry," but did not want to explain why things escalated to that point. 

The prosecution suspects that her allegations of domestic violence may have been made in an attempt to mislead the police, as the injuries she allegedly sustained were inconsistent with her story, including a bite mark that, according to investigators, appeared to be self-inflicted.

The prosecution is being led by AG lawyers Kaylie Bonnett and Etienne Savona from the Attorney General’s office. Representing the accused are lawyers Simon Micallef Stafrace and Julia Micallef Stafrace. The case was investigated by Superintendent Godwin Scerri and Inspector Shaun Pawney