The daughter of a woman murdered in Gozo last month told court on Tuesday her mother had confided in her that the man now accused of killing her had previously hit her in a drunken rage. Jessica Ellul recalled how in November 2020 - over a year before the murder - her mother had told her that her partner Lawrence Abina would assault her upon his return home. "He once left home abruptly and when I confronted him about it, he basically said it was better that way otherwise he would end up beating my mother. As far as I know, they had never reconciled. She never wanted to move to Gozo and he never wanted to come to Malta," Ellul recalled. She was testifying in a sitting of the compilation of evidence against Abina, a 30-year-old from Ghana who stands charged with the murder of 49-year-old Ellul on February 26. Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech presided over the sitting. Ellul was found dead inside an Għajnsielem apartment in Triq Dun Frangisk Mizzi. Abina is pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him. In a previous sitting, it had emerged that the accused had confessed to the police to strangling her because he thought she was cheating on him. The court also heard...
