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2 Matthew agius The lawyer defending a man on trial for the murder of his former wife, has warned the jury of "a hid- den hand controlling the evidence," which they were being shown. his client was presumed to be guilty because of his nationality, claimed the lawyer, in spite of the timeline of events not fitting in with the evi- dence. Dr Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani yesterday began his final oral submissions to the jury trying 36- year old Nizar el Gadi, who is ac- cused of the 2012 murder of lawyer Margaret Mifsud. "There is a paucity in the evidence brought by the prosecution... a hid- den hand controlling that evidence. We do not know why... but doubts are mounting," said the defence. There was no evidence as to what happened after 11.30pm on the day of the murder, posited the defence, as the prosecution had not exhib- ited the telephone calls which were made after midnight on 19 April, 2012. "We have asked for them but they have not been given to us," said the defence. Defence points out flaws in the prosecution's timeline From CCTV footage, el Gadi had been in Paceville at 2:14am, said the lawyer. "Dr Mifsud was either already dead or was about to die at that time, as we have been told that she died between 1 and 3am." The trip was "absolutely impossi- ble," taking into account the delays, said the defence. Working back- wards from the time of death, he re- minded the jury that for the accused to drive from the scene to Champs and arrive at 2:14am, "without tak- ing into account the traffic, parking, without having to convince some- one to come with you", together with the 79 minute walk from Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, he would have needed to leave at 12.55am at the latest. he poured scorn on the idea that the accused had tried to burn the victim's handbag and other evidence before going to buy pastizzi from Paceville after the murder. DNA testing procedure The defence argued that the ac- cused had driven the victim's car before her murder and that this explained the presence of his DNA on the steering wheel. "The DNA doesn't just disappear. There is no doubt that he had driven her car the day before and the DNA was still there on the steering wheel." DNA experts had only looked for Mifsud's and el Gadi's DNA in the car, said the lawyer, hinting that they may have been instructed to only search for those two persons' DNA, to the exclusion of all others. "Margaret Mifsud had a passenger whom she trusted sitting next to her. Is it possible that she did not turn on her mobile phone before driving with el Gadi, in view of the pair's history?", asked Testaferrata Moroni Viani. he condemned the prosecution for what he called "character assassina- tion at its best, with the stamp of ap- proval of the authorities," regarding the testimony of the children, who had said that the day before her mur- der, Mifsud had kissed the accused. "For the purposes of this case, the prosecution must prove three things. Firstly that my client was with her, secondly that my client did something that could have caused her death and thirdly that he had the intention to kill Margaret Mifsud. If one of these elements is missing, we do not have the crime of wilful homicide." Means employed in the murder "Let us say, for the sake of argu- ment, that my client had done the things which Dr Mario Scerri said he did. The method in which Dr Mifsud met her end was at the hand of someone more corpulent than the accused, who weighs only 70kg" said the lawyer. "even if we accept the fantastical theory that my client stealthily en- tered into the victim's car, how did she then decide to have intercourse with him. It does not make sense. Look at him," he said, telling the ac- cused to stand up in the dock. "To- day he weighs 70kg, at the time he weighed 60. It is impossible to im- mobilise a person for two minutes with such a puny weight." The defence told the jury that the victim "wasn't sincere with every- one. Maybe because she was tired of being criticised by her mother for marrying a Libyan." Victim's mother "immediately concluded that it was El Gadi" The only criticism that the victim's mother, Tessie Mifsud, could have had against Margaret was her choice of husband, said Testaferrata Mo- roni Viani. he described the victim as a strong woman, who carried on meeting the accused in spite of not needing to, because she felt that it was in the best interest of her chil- dren. Tessie Mifsud immediately blamed el Gadi, said his lawyer. he quot- ed her testimony before the jury. "Where did we get the information that Mifsud had switched off her mobile because Nizar was harassing her? Tessie Mifsud. In fact the call records indicated that she always answered his calls. The unanswered calls were from unknown numbers," said the lawyer, suggesting that per- haps the victim had turned off her mobile because one of her clients was harassing her. Children's changing testimony during compilation proceedings he referred to the testimony of the children before Magistrate Grixti, after the video conference and in- vited the jurors to compare this to the testimony of the same children, two years later. The difference in- dicated that they already had the idea planted in their head that their mother had been murdered by their father. "Disgusting. We saw the leading questions create a false pic- ture of the accused. The prosecution pumped the children full of ideas of guilt," said the lawyer. "This, in my opinion, is disgusting." There was no motive, said Testa- ferrata Moroni Viani. "My client is an irregular worker. he had no rea- son to kill his wife, because he was living the life of a king, living in a house, going to the gym, going out with other women." he appealed to the jurors to empty their minds of any prejudice caused by the reporting of the murder. "I am sure the versions you heard be- fore are completely different to that which emerges from the evidence." Whilst the accused being made a suspect was understandable, he pointed out that el Gadi always co- operated with the police and was arrested without the police having sufficient evidence. "They broke my client," he said of el Gadi. "he has spent the past three years in jail." Technically the ac- cused is on bail, but has remained in custody as he was unable to pay the bail deposit. Appealing to the jurors' pockets, as well as their rational minds, he urged them to "give a message to the competent authorities. Show them that you are not satisfied. This case should not have come before you and you are paying for it... who is paying for your hotel stay? Who is paying for the proceedings? We all pay taxes. We are paying for these proceedings because of the mis- takes of the prosecution. I am asking you, after you have considered the evidence, to come out with a unani- mous verdict. " The trial continues. Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi is pre- siding the trial. Assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and lawyer Giannella Busuttil from the office of the Attorney General are prosecuting. Lawyer Martin Testaferata Mo- roni Viani is defending the accused, whilst lawyers Kathleen Grima and Arthur Azzopardi are appearing parte civile for the victim's family. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 NovEmbEr 2015 News Jury warned by defence lawyer of 'hidden hand controlling evidence' Nizar el Gadi taking notes during witnesses' testimonies. Sketch by Inez Cristina