Update 2 | El Gadi sentenced to life in prison, periodic solitary confinement for murder

Nizar El Gadi was sentenced to life in prison with periodic solitary confinement after a jury found him guilty of murdering his former wife Margaret Mifsud.

The court’s sentence means that the Libyan man will be locked up in solitary confinement for 10 days, five times a year.  

Following a four-hour deliberation at the end of the three-week trial, the jurors delivered an 8-1 guilty verdict against El Gadi. The prosecution requested that the court give El Gadi a life sentence, while representatives of the victim’s family insisted that he spend the rest of his days locked in solitary confinement.

El Gadi’s defence pleaded against a life sentence entirely, warning that it would be “cruel and harsh” on the man and his attempts to re-establish contact with his two children that he had had with Mifsud.

Mifsud was found dead in her car in Bahar ic-Caghaq on the night between 18 and 19 April 2012, after having attended a dinner with colleagues in Xemxija. 

The victim died of asphyxia, caused by heavy pressure on her chest, and forensic experts testified that the lack of defense injuries on her body suggested that she trusted her aggressor.

DNA experts said that samples they took from beneath the victim's fingernails comprised mostly of the accused's DNA.

A month prior to the crime, Mifsud had filed a report with the Birkirkara police, saying that El Gadi had attempted to strangle her. El Gadi denies the accusation. 

Assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and lawyer Giannella Busutil from the office of the Attorney General were prosecuting. Lawyer Martin Testaferata Moroni Viani is defending the accused, whilst lawyer Kathleen Grima and Arthur Azzopardi were appearing as parte civile for the victim’s family.