Witness recalls hearing Sion Grech's screams during Marsa murder

A woman who witnessed the fatal stabbing of Sion Grech in Marsa in 2005 recounted the episode in court on Wednesday but insisted that after so many years, she could not recall much detail.

The account, by Jacqueline Rapinett, largely following the lines of a description which Rapinett had given the police in 2018 and which was recounted by a police inspector on Tuesday.

Rapinett was testifying in the trial of Ismael Habesh and Faical Mohouachi, who deny committing the murder. Grech was killed by over 17 stab wounds in a field near the former HSBC branch at Marsa.

Rapinett said she had she watched in panic as Habesh and Mohouachi attacked Grech and dragged her body into a field where it was discovered days later in a badly decomposed state. 

It was around 9:30pm on that April 5 evening when a fight broke out between Grech and Habesh who was soon joined by another man whose name she did not know but who was later identified as Mohouachi.

It was a dark night but she could follow the commotion in the street light.

As she watched, the men lifted Grech and carried her into the field.

The witness said she stepped onto a low stone wall to get a better view and saw Habesh’s companion...