Witnesses in Erin Tanti case tell court they heard somebody scream

The compilation of evidence against Erin Tanti, accused of the wilful homicide of Lisa Marie Zahra, continued today with Magistrate Audrey Demicoli hearing the testimony of two young men who were in the vicinity at the time of the incident.

Glenn Zarb and Brandon Cutajar told the court that on the morning of the 19 March 2014 they had gone to Dingli to prepare for barbecue later on in the day.

Zarb reported hearing a distant scream at around 4:30pm, while they were on their way back and saw someone on a large rock in the “Siggiewi area near the radar”.

Answering questions from Inspector Keith Arnaud, Zarb said “I saw a person lying down in the vegetation, about 100m away. I did not move closer to the person as I couldn’t descend from where I was”.

Asked what he heard he said that he thought he heard “help” and a plea for water.  We called for assistance, the ambulance and helicopter came and we left after a while.

Another member of the group that went to on the day, Brandon Cutjar, told the court that he heard someone shouting and realised that the person shouting was “down there”, on a rock which he reckoned to be 50m below the cliff edge.

Asked what he heard, he answered that at first he thought it was ”hey” but then realised it was “help”. “I saw a person on a big rock, about 50m away. The person was prostrate, some of my friends tried to go down but it was very difficult to reach. We then called the ambulance”.

Dr. Ali Safraz, who carried out the postmortem on the body of Lisa Marie Zahra exhibited his report.

Criminologist Dr. Saviour Formosa told the court that the fall was 32m (approx 100ft). He was appointed to create a “spatial analysis” of the zone, including a 3D and physical model of the scene, all of which he exhibited in court. He also presented a report with the crime scene photographs and the images from the top and foot of the cliff where the fall took place.

The model and technical details of the report were examined and questioned at length by the defence.

Lawyer Michael Scriha, cross examining the expert witness, asked Formosa what he based his assumptions on and whether the scientific method allows assumptions.  Asked whether he was accompanied during his site visits during the compilation of the report, Formosa replied that on his first visit, he was accompanied by a police officer and that he had gone on a second visit alone.

The study involved bringing specialised equipment to the scene, due to its remote location.

Formosa declared that Malta is the only country in the world where such a detailed 3D analysis of the data has been made, adding that the position of every stone in the model is within 25cm of its actual position.

 “I did not invent the science behind it. There are specific global studies in the medical and physical science sphere that establish the parameters used. The run-up, speed, weight, height, distance spatial data are used to create the model.  You cannot reinvent the formulae in studies that examine the fall trajectory. My study inputted the data collected from the scene and produced the 3D model.”

The compilation of evidence will continue on the 19 December.