Updated | Erin Tanti placed under bill of indictment

Erin Tanti, 23, the supply teacher facing charges of murder and assisted suicide of Lisa Maria Zahra, 15, has been placed under a bill of indictment by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli.

It will not be up to the Attorney General to list the articles of law with which Tanti will be accused, based on the evidence presented in court during the compilation of evidence.

Rescuers from the Civil Protection Department, and police officers, recounted in today's sitting details of the rescue of Tanti, and Zahra.

11:53 The case will now be sent to the Attorney General to list the articles of law relating to the charges. The case has been put off for the 3 June. Chris Mangion

11:52 Defence has not contested that there is enough prima facie evidence. Chris Mangion

11:52 Magistrate Audrey Demicoli has placed Erin Tanti under bill of indictment. Chris Mangion

11:51 Prosecuting expert Keith Arnaud tells the court that experts appointed during the inquiry will be summoned in the next sitting as to why their report has not yet been finalised. Chris Mangion

11:51 Defence lawyer Michael Sciriha asks if the report by the police's IT expert has been concluded. Chris Mangion

11:50 CPD assistant rescue officer Renato Agius corroborates Axiaq's evidence. Chris Mangion

11:39 "We transferred the casualty from the helicopter to the ambulance and handed the stretcher back to the AFM to retrieve the second body. Neither me, nor any of my men, spoke to the casualty." Chris Mangion

11:36 Civil Protection Department operations manager Frank Axiaq takes the stand. He says he arrived on the scene of the 19 March rescue, where he witnessed the rescue helicopter winching Tanti onto the cliff-top. Chris Mangion

11:35 Norma Baldacchino, from Mater Dei, has exhibited a medical history of Erin Tanti Chris Mangion

11:29 Tanti gets emotional every time this scene is described. Chris Mangion

11:28 "After Tanti was placed in an ambulance, I was again lowered to retrieve the other person. She was full of scratches and cuddled around the rock." Chris Mangion

11:27 Galea: "The other rescuer did a head-to-toe survey of Tanti and suspected that he had spinal injuries. I was lowered down onto the rocks, together with a stretcher." Chris Mangion

11:27 Gunner George Galea, the other AFM rescuer, was the second officer to be lowered near Tanti. Chris Mangion

11:22 Taking the stand, police inspector Pierre Micallef Grimaud says he was the duty officer the day Tanti and Zahra were reported missing. He said that he received information that the two were often seen near the boathouses beneath the Malta Experience museum in Valletta, known as Ras iz-Ziemel. The rooms were checked, with negative results. He was later radioed in the car, saying that Tanti's car was found parked outside the radar station in Dingli. Chris Mangion

11:14 Cassar: "He had a cut on his forehead, injured legs, and I suspected spinal injuries. I could not see the injuries he had suffered to his liver, as he was clothed, and my priority was to get him out of harm and to the ambulance." Chris Mangion

11:05 The rescuer has now been asked to describe the injuries found on Tanti. Chris Mangion

11:03 Magistrate Demicoli says the Armed Forces of Malta has filed a court application to say the officer who had to exhibit the footage is abroad. Chris Mangion

11:02 Defence counsel Sciriha has asked the court for a copy of the recording. Chris Mangion

11:02 He asks whether the police has a copy of the rescue video. The lawyer has requested the rescuer to recall if Tanti had told him that he "jumped" or "had fallen" from the cliff-top. Cassar replies that Tanti told him that "he had fallen". Chris Mangion

11:00 Dr Michael Sciriha, defence counsel, cross-examines the witness. Chris Mangion

10:57 Parte civile lawyer Gianella de Marco, appearing for the Zahra family, questions the witness about the dynamics of the rescue. Cassar recalls that the police officer on the site marked the spot of Zahra's body by hanging a brown jacket onto a tree. Chris Mangion

10:56 According to the prosecution, Tanti "had pain in the lower back and an injured leg". Chris Mangion

10:54 The height of the fall is said to have been around 'eight storeys' Chris Mangion

10:52 Prosecution exhibits photos of the site of the incident. Chris Mangion

10:51 Cassar says that at the time, he was informed the two had been on the rocks since around midnight 12am, and that they had been stranded at the bottom of the cliffs for over 12 hours before rescuers arrived on site. Chris Mangion

10:51 Cassar says he could not even move the fingers of the deceased girl, referring to the state of the body as rigor mortis had set in. Chris Mangion

10:50 Tanti and Zahra were found at a distance of 50m from each other, the AFM rescuer says. Chris Mangion

10:49 Erin Tanti breaks into tears. Chris Mangion

10:49 Cassar: "I told [Tanti] that this was not the case, in order not to panic him. I told the police officer to help the second officer and I went to check the second casualty - she was dead, with rigor mortis having set in. She was curled on a stone, cold and without a pulse." Chris Mangion

10:48 Cassar: "A police officer climbed down the cliff and informed me that there was a dead person." Chris Mangion

10:48 Cassar: "I called down another rescuer to help retrieve the casualty. Meanwhile, I asked him if there was anyone else and he said that there was his girlfriend, who I understood was at the top." Chris Mangion

10:43 Cassar says he asked Tanti what had happened, who in turn told him that he had fallen from the cliff. Considering the height of the fall, the rescuer tells the court that he had doubts as to how Tanti had fallen and was still conscious and could move. Chris Mangion

10:43 Cassar says he arrived on it by helicopter and was winched next to the ambulance; medical officers indicated the casualty, and the helicopter lowered the rescuer to a field close to where Tanti was. The rescuers' helmets are equipped with cameras to record the rescue. Chris Mangion

10:38 On the stand now: Lance Bombardier Pierre Cassar, an AFM rescuer, describing the procedure of how a rescue helicopter was dispatched. Chris Mangion

10:36 Vella adds that he was the first officer to contact Catherine Tanti, mother of the accused, asking her of her son's whereabouts. Chris Mangion

10:36 PC Michael Vella: "They reported that an unknown person had twice entered the Zahras' residence." Chris Mangion

10:35 Next on the stand is PC Michael Vella: he confirms under oath that he took the report filed by Nicholas Zahra, brother of the victim, and Mark Anthony Ciangura, the Zahras' domestic. Chris Mangion

10:31 PC168 Abdilla tells court he was not involved in any other part of the investigation. Chris Mangion

10:30 In the dock, Tanti today is not accompanied by a nurse, for the first time since the start of the compilation of evidence. Chris Mangion

10:30 On a laptop found inside Tanti's apartment, police officers found a note, reading: 'Dear Mum, this has nothing to do with you, you have raised me well.' Chris Mangion

10:28 Police constable was first to go to Tanti's house in Valletta - where police officers entered through the balcony before the landlord could open the apartment. Chris Mangion

10:27 PC168 Paul Abdilla is first to take witness stand. Chris Mangion

10:19 Anthony Zahra, the father of victim Lisa Maria Zahra, has left the courtroom, being that he is still a potential witness. Chris Mangion

10:18 Magistrate Audrey Demicoli has entered the courtroom. Chris Mangion

10:17 A packed courtroom today for the compilation of evidence against Erin Tanti: the accuses if flanked by his parents, while relatives of the victim occupy the rest of the room. Prosecuting officer Keith Arnaud, the parte civile lawyers and the victim's father are poring over documents prior to the sitting. Matthew Vella

LIVE BLOG from last sitting during compilation of evidence

Tanti was said to have claimed he did not want to jump at the moment when Zahra decided to end her life from Dingli Cliffs.

In a cross-examination of police investigators and witnesses by defence counsel Michael Sciriha last week, it was established that Tanti could have feared being arrested by police after the Zahra family found out that he was having sexual relations with Zahra, a student at the St Michael Foundation where Tanti was employed.

Tanti at first denied having had sexual relations with the girl, but was then faced with photos found in his mobile phone of him and the girl, naked in bed; and with reports showing traces of semen found in Zahra's underwear.

Police also found a Virtù Ferries ticket in his jacket pocket, together with just under €2,500 in cash which appear to be taken from a cash box belonging to his comedy troupe Wembley Stores Boy, suggesting that Tanti was preparing to take flight.

However, on the night of the 18-19 March, Tanti picked up Zahra from her house, the two then switched off their mobile phones in the vicinity of Naxxar, and then drove to Dingli Cliffs. The two were believed to have drank half a bottle of whisky, swalled the contents of three boxes of aspirin, before proceeding to jump.

The autopsy on Zahra's body confirmed that she had suffered head fractures and multiple joint fractures, compatible with the trauma suffered frorm the fall.

Tanti proceeded to jump after Zahra, but was said to have woken up later "in great pain", and then attempted to crawl back.