Stabbing victim had been drinking heavily on the day of his death, jury told

Jurors have been shown a video of Emil Atanasov's police interrogation, during which he is heard claiming to have acted in self-defence when he fatally stabbed Krstic Dragoljub.

Atanasov, a Bulgarian national, had been living in Malta since 2011 and had resided in the apartment where the stabbing took place occurred since May 2013. Atanasov, who works in construction and lives in Saint Paul’s Bay, is pleading not guilty to the wilful homicide of Dragoljub, inflicting grievous bodily harm on Zoran Jocic and carrying a knife during the commission of a crime.

This afternoon the jury also heard a pub barman allege that Dragoljub, a Serb, had been drinking heavily on the night of his death.

Glenn Zahra, a barman at Watson Pub explained that he lives in the same block of apartments as the accused and Dragoljub. On the night of the murder, he had knocked on the door of the flat in question after neighbours had started calling him up, complaining about the noise.

Danny Krsteski, a Macedonian, had opened the door, he said. He recalled speaking to Krsteski, who “looked drunk” telling him to turn the music down, as it was 1 am. There were 4 persons inside the apartment at the time.

The men didn't pay rent, Zahra explained, so he had told them that if they persisted in playing loud music, he would call the police. The threat was ignored; the volume was temporarily lowered, but went up again after a few minutes. Zahra eventually switched off the mains electricity supply.

Krsteski had nagged him to turn it back on again, but Zahra had refused and went to bed. About 15 minutes later, the Macedonian had knocked at his door, “begging” him to reconnect the supply, but the witness stood firm.

He had returned to his bed and the men had carried on singing for around 15 minutes. He remembered suddenly hearing a scream and something heavy falling down the stairs, hitting the bannisters and making a loud noise. In the ensuing silence, he had fallen asleep, exhausted after a late shift.

The judge asked whether the accused had been in the bar on the night. The witness replied in the negative. On the other hand, the deceased and his friends had been drinking heavily, having consumed “around 6 pints” of beer before leaving the bar to carry on their carousing in the flat. The men weren't menacing in their behaviour, he said, but he had taken the impression that they weren't to be trifled with, either.

Jurors also heard a succession of police officers describe the murder scene, today.

Police officers testified that attempts to restart the victim's heart had failed and Dragoljub had died at the scene. A tip off about a man wearing bloodstained clothes had led to the arrest of the accused, who was found on a rooftop, hiding in between water tanks “to avoid further problems.”

“I will never forget the sheer amount of blood on the floor and the clothes of the deceased,” testified RIU sergeant Juan Mula, one of the officers who had responded to the report of the stabbing.

The language barrier, however, meant that the policeman could only understand “fight” and “two” when they had asked him what had happened, Mula said.

Inspector Joseph Busuttil testified that he had been on duty at the Qawra police station when he had received a phone call at 2:15am reporting a stabbing at a nearby flat. An ambulance had been dispatched immediately but the man stabbed had stopped breathing before medical assistance could arrive.

The officer recalled seeing so much blood on the floor of the corridor that he decided not to risk contaminating the crime scene by going in. Inspector Busuttil had then informed the duty magistrate who appointed several experts to assist in the collection of evidence.

When dawn broke, Inspector Busuttil recalled, he had noticed a crowbar lying in the grass outside the entrance to the flats.

The apartment owner, Mario Ciappara had told police that he had encountered trouble with noise from the apartment on other occasions. The two Serbs had been at the nearby pub on the night of the incident, Ciappara told the police, adding that he had never seen them before.

It appeared that the Serbs had been under the impression that the accused was behind the power cuts and an argument broke out. At one point, Dragoljub had asked the accused for the bathroom. While he accused was showing him where to go, he said Dragoljub had pushed him into his room.

The other Serb had started shouting at the accused and asking him why he had switched off the electricity. At one point, the accused was pushed out of the apartment and into the corridor. Seeing that his two assailants were physically stronger and taller than him, the accused had retrieved a knife and a crowbar to defend himself.

Atanasov told the police that the accused had been choking him and that he had been holding the knife, close to his stomach. At a point during the attack, said the accused, he had “felt the knife hit something, or someone.” Krsteski then tried to take the knife from his hand, rebuking him for bringing the knife.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and lawyer Elaine Mercieca are prosecuting.

Lawyer Malcolm Mifsud is defence counsel to Atanasov.