Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/323754
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE 2014 7 News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Prior to the commotion in the courtroom, Tony Zahra, in a calm and composed manner, recounted how Lisa Maria's mother had been diagnosed with cancer just a year after she gave birth to their daugh- ter. She lost her fight with the ill- ness a year later. "We kept Carmen at home. We did not want her to die in a hospital environment. Lisa Mar- ia spent six months staying at her grandmothers. After Carmen died, my daughter moved back with me," he said. Lisa Maria was brought up by a nanny, and during weekends Car- men's mother would keep her at home. She attended school at Chis- wick House School, before attending St Martin's private school. However acting on the advice of his niece who was an assistant head at St Michael's Foundation, he transferred his daughter there, believing "it was a better school with more discipline". Zahra said that at the time of the tragedy, his daughter was studying for her O-Levels and had plans to go study drama in the UK. "She did ballet, attended Masquer- ade theatre classes and played the piano. Having had the experience to live abroad myself, I pushed her idea to go study abroad," Zahra said. Ex- hibiting his daughter's certificates, the father pointed out they were all achieved with distinction. "She had a bright future ahead of her." The family's lawyer, Joe Giglio, asked Zahra to go back to when his daughter was 12-years old. "I received a call from the school telling me she was into self-harm. We sought help but were reassured that this could be normal behaviour for a 12-year-old. Peer pressure could have been one reason." Lisa Maria went under the care of psychologists Graziella Mercieca and Ethel Felice. She kept visiting Mercieca until November 2013. "It was Mercieca herself who told me that the sessions should stop because a lot of progress was covered, and due to Lisa Maria's upcoming exams. During parent's day held in the same month, the teachers had nothing but praise for my daughter," Zahra said. Zahra's Dubai trip cut short On the eve of 19 March this year, Zahra was in Dubai when an emo- tional Lisa Maria called him to say she had called at the wrong exam centre and missed her exam. The father calmed her down and told her all would be sorted on his return. However the following morning Zahra's estate manager Mark Cian- gura informed him that a man had spent the night inside the house. "My manager told me the man was recognisable from the footage. His vehicle was seen outside the house. I instructed my housekeeper to stay with Lisa and not let her out of sight. I told them to take away her mobile phone and file a police report about the man. At that time I had no clue who he was," Zahra said. It was at this time that Dr Joe Giglio questioned the victim's father about his emotional and instinctive feel- ings as a father, and the commotion ripped through the courtroom. Tanti's injuries compatible with fall from height Also in yesterday's hearing, court expert Dr Mario Scerri listed the various injuries doctors found on the two youths. "Erin Tanti had frac- tured ribs, sprained vertebrae, a lot of abrasions and cuts. The injuries were compatible with a jump or fall from a height. He told me he had consumed an amount of alcohol and aspirin, and consented to doctors taking blood samples for analyses." "Lisa Maria had a cranial fracture which was the cause of death. Her hand was tightened into a fist, de- noting she was terrified at the time of death. However she was conscious during the fall. She suffered broken ribs and vertebrae and had grass and branches in her clothes. She must have fallen into branches and shrubs." The witness said the samples for Lisa Maria Zahra's blood tests have yet to be taken to the UK for testing. The samples will be sent today. Defence lawyer Michael Sciriha re- quested a copy of the medical report listing Erin Tanti's injuries. Patholo- gist Dr Maria Therese Camilleri, presented the autopsy report. She ex- plained that DR Ali Safraz was also part of the team who did the autopsy, but is currently abroad. No DNA 'mixing' was found First on the witness stand in today's sitting was DNA expert Dr Marisa Cassar. She confirmed that no 'mix- ing' of DNA profiles was found any- where. "The DNA profile on the whiskey bottle, a pair of knickers and a piece of cloth found inside Tanti's car was both of Zahra and Tanti. The under- wear in Lisa Maria's bedroom, the blood under her pillow, on a towel and in her diary was only of the vic- tim. However no mixing was found," the witness explained. Police officer expected to find victim alive A police officer from the Rapid In- tervention Unit told the court how he was told to call at Dingli Cliffs because someone had an accident. "On the way there were met some people who showed us where the man had fallen. Arriving on site I was shown a pathway that led to the person who had the accident, so I went to him." the officer said. Recognising Tanti as the injured man, the officer said, "he told me 'I've messed it up Sir. I jumped. I'm in terrible pain. There's a dead per- son over there'." When the AFM rescue helicopter arrived, the officer went to inspect the body of the dead person. "After about seven minutes of searching I found a boot and a jacket. Then close by under a carob tree I found the body of a woman, lying face down. I pulled her out, expecting her to be alive and talk to be, but she was ice-cold. She was dead. I put her back the same way I found her and used the jacket to mark the tree so the rescuers could lift the body to the top side of the cliff." CPD members describe rescue A number of Civil Protection Of- ficers also took the stand explain- ing their involvement in the trans- ferring of the victims' bodies from the helicopter to the ambulance. A Civil Protection officer re- counted how the rescue call came in at 4pm. "We had to clear an area for the transfer of the victims from the helicopter to the ambu- lance. One was in a body bag and I couldn't see who it was. The other was a man. He had a beard. I'm not sure if it is him," he said pointing at the accused. Throughout yesterday's hearing, the accused Erin Tanti was very emotional and had tears running down his face. He was f lanked by his father and a nurse. Following the incidents in court, four police officers stood at each end of the dock. Magistrate Audrey Demicoli put off the case for 1 July. Lawyers Joe Giglio, Giannella de Marco, Steve Tonna Lowell and Reuben Farrugia are appearing in parte civile for the Zahra family. Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha are appearing for Erin Tanti. Inspectors Keith Arnaud, Josric Mifsud and Sylvana Briffa are pros- ecuting. Magistrate Audrey Demicoli put off the case for 1 July. MIRIAM DALLI THE Opposition plans on requesting a meet- ing of the citizenship monitoring committee after its leader Simon Busuttil publicly chal- lenged the government to summon this com- mittee. Raising questions in parliament on how much money Identity Malta, the government's office to process applications under the IIP, had spent on advertising the Individual Inves- tor Programme with newspapers, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi went on to ask Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia whether the government would be summoning the moni- toring committee. "There are no plans as yet for the monitoring committee to meet," Mallia replied. Asked whether he could give an approximate figure on how many applications for Maltese citizenship were upheld, the minister went on to request Azzopardi to table a written ques- tion. In reply to a supplementary question on whether the citizenship monitoring com- mittee would be meeting following Busuttil's public call, Mallia said he had not received any formal requests by the PN leader. "The leader of the Opposition is a member of this same committee. Similarly to how he had requested a meeting of the Security Serv- ice committee, Busuttil knows what he has to do if he wants this committee to meet," Mallia replied. He however would not confirm whether the committee would meet if Busuttil were to send a formal request to the minister. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Mallia told Azzopardi. Zahra underwent therapy for self-harm at age of 12 Opposition wants to summon citizenship monitoring committee Jason Azzopardi asked Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia whether the government would be summoning the monitoring committee Lisa Maria Zahra