Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/647574
4 MAT THEW AGIUS A man on trial for the attempted murder of his wife had found out that she had sent a text message, apparently professing her love to someone else, before he shot her. Jurors heard that Maria Cuta- jar had been married to Carmel Cutajar for around 21 years in 2012, when he drove to her place of work and shot her in the chest at close range in the street out- side. Carmel Cutajar is accused of the attempted murder of his wife in September 2012. The marriage was not a happy one, said prosecuting law yer Gi- annella Busuttil, due to the ac- cused 's controlling character. The woman had been a prisoner in her own home, living with their two children in fear of her husband 's violence, she said. Maria Cutajar had left the mat- rimonial home several times to live with her mother, but would always forgive the accused and return. As the accused would never give her money, she had resort- ed to working at a nearby Rabat pizzerija to earn money for her daughter's studies, the prosecu- tor explained. She had left home and went to live in a domestic violence shelter, against her hus- band 's wishes, and had made it clear that she had no intention of returning. Carmel Cutajar had called at her place of work and convinced her to walk a short distance with him, to Saqqajja. He asked her again whether she was coming home but the woman refused, Busuttil said. "He pulled out the weapon, pointed it at her chest and shot her in the chest from close range." The victim ran to the pizze- ria where she worked and was given first aid. She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, where she underwent emergency life- saving surgery. The bullet was found to have stopped close to her heart. On his part, the accused drove to the Rabat police station and turned himself in, explaining what had happened. He had been slightly injured. Day one of the trial by jury of Carmel Cutajar, a former police constable who is accused of the attempted murder of his wife, Maria, saw Inspector Keith Ar- naud from the homicide division of the Criminal Investigation Department testif ying. He played to the jury a record- ing of the accused 's interroga- tion, taking up the majority of yesterday's afternoon sitting. Towards the end of his interro- gation. Cutajar had told inspec- tor Arnaud that he suspected his wife was seeing another man. She had sent an SMS to his sis- ter's daughter by mistake, which read: "I love you, thank you for everything. I'm going to hang up because he's here," he is heard telling police. "My siblings told me about it after the separation, after she left," laments the man. He claimed that after realis- ing the mistake, his sister had warned her daughter to keep her mouth shut. He had confronted her about a caller on her mobile phone, list- ed as "Joe". She appeared taken aback, he told police, and then she had claimed that he was a relative of hers. "He was so stu- pid that one time he sent her a message at night," he recalled bitterly, but his wife had ex- plained that it had been sent by her mobile telephony provider." He denied ever beating her, his tone becoming one of aston- ishment when the inspector is heard telling him that his wife had told police that he would beat the children. "I would shout at them, yes, but I never touched them." On the contrary, the accused claimed that it was his wife who would beat him, in particu- lar when he would insult her mother, and on one occasion she grabbed him by the throat. It wasn't the first time that she would pick up a knife and hold it to her breast or threaten to throw herself off the roof, he added. Asked what had led to the cou- ple's separation, he blamed his wife, saying she would shout at him and criticise everything he did. The topic moved on to the events of the 26th September. In the preceding weeks, he said, his estranged wife had told him that the youngest daughter did not want to see him any more. The eldest had already cut her ties with her father. But he would go to wait for his wife outside her workplace, he said. "I loved her, do you un- derstand? I loved her, sir. I loved her a lot, I couldn't bear not see- ing her. I would ask her to come back. "I left my sister's house at Dingli. I don't remember what happened after that… just a black cloud." The inspector had spoken to the accused 's wife, who told him of the couple's stormy relation- ship. She had described the ac- cused as very possessive and violent towards both her and the children. She had left home for domestic violence shelter Dar Merhba Bik and had started working as a waitress at a Rabat restaurant to support herself. After moving out, the violent behaviour had stopped, she had told police. The couple had an agreement about where he would meet the children, near Saqqajja or San Anton, but the youngest daugh- ter had started refusing to see the father. When asked why, she said that her father had taken her to Dingli cliffs and asked her to approach him near the edge. She had not complied. On an- other occasion, he had told the child that there was something for her in the luggage boot of the car, but she had refused to look. Arnaud reported a resident telling police that he had heard the shot and upon looking out- side, saw a man chasing a wom- an and firing in her direction. "I thought they were filming a movie." The husband asked his wife whether she wanted to go home. He put his hand in his pocket. She heard a loud bang and felt a searing pain in her chest. She ran away, and heard another three or four shots fired, before she reached the Point de Vue restaurant, closing the door be- hind her and awaited medical assistance. Questioned as to what the problems with his wife were, the husband conceded that they would often argue. During in- terrogation, he was calm and answered questions, the Inspec- tor said, adding that when asked about the shooting itself how- ever, he would simply refer to "darkness". He did not give details. "Kelli ghamad, kelli ghamad (I felt blindfolded)" he insisted several times to police. Law yers Giannella Busuttil and Anthony Vella are prosecut- ing. Law yers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo are Cutajar's de- fence counsel. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 MARCH 2016 News pensions newspaper ad.indd 12 22/02/2016 10:27 AM Man accused of wife's attempted murder had suspected infidelity Trial by jury begins of Carmel Cutajar, accused of the attempted murder of his estranged wife in Rabat in 2012 YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt On 26 September 2012, Carmel Cutajar shot his wife in the chest outside the Point de Vue restaurant in Rabat