El Gadi had already attempted to choke partner, before 2012 murder

A man accused of murdering his estranged partner was "irritable and aggressive" towards his children, police inspector Carol Fabri told the court in the compilation of evidence against Nizar el Gadi, 33, accused of the murder of lawyer Margaret Mifsud.

Mifsud was found dead in her car on 19 April 2012 at Bahar ic-Caghaq. El Gadi is believed to have walked all the way back to his residence in Bugibba after murdering her.

Fabri told the court that Mifsud's children did not love their father, El Gadi, because he neither played with them nor ever bought them presents. The children had told the police that the accused was always irritable and aggressive, but never hit them or physically abused their mother in their presence.

However, Fabri said the children were told by their mother that El Gad had tried to choke her with a rope, and that a source of discord tended to be disagreements over religious issues. The children also told the police how El Gadi would beg his wife for forgiveness and plead with her on his knees to take him back.

Mifsud was reported missing by her mother Theresa Mifsud, who had in the past filed filed reports of domestic violence on her daughter's behalf.

In their searches of Mifsud's house after her body was found in Bahar ic-Caghaq, the police came across a four-page document written by the victim, concerning an incident where El Gadi had tried to kill her using a rope.

The autopsy of on Mifsud's body established the cause of death to be traumatic asphyxia due to a sizeable contusion on one of the lungs, since both lungs were full of petechiae, which are broken capillary blood vessels identified as red or purple spots on the body - signs of a minor haemorrhage.

As there was no sign that the victim had been gagged, the experts concluded that the  murderer most likely reclined her car seat, got on top of her, and impeded her chest from moving, precluding her from breathing and filling her lungs with oxygen.

El Gadi's request for bail was last denied on 24 May. Inspector Keith Arnaud is prosecuting. Dr Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani is appearing for the accused, while Dr Arthur Azzopardi and Dr Kathleen Grima are representing the Mifsud family.

The case continues.