Yana Mintoff’s Romanian boyfriend, 39, “grievously wounded”

As more details emerge of last night’s incident at Yana Mintoff’s home in Tarxien, it becomes less, not more, clear what happened.

Police sources have described Yana Mintoff’s injuries and those of her son as “slight” – in fact, they were driven by friends, who had been present in the house, to the Paola Health Centre and not to the hospital’s A & E department.

But her Romanian boyfriend’s wounds have been described by the same sources as “grievous”.

The man, who was not named by the police (update – he has since been named as Gheorghe Popa), was found by them up a tree near the house, covered in blood. He could not be coaxed down and photographs taken at the scene show a truck-borne cherry-picker which we can conclude was used for the purpose of removing him from the tree.

He is now at the state general hospital. Though early reports said that he had been arrested, it now appears that this is not the case, and that the police are still trying to determine what happened.

Yana Mintoff, 65, with her Romanian boyfriend, Gheorghe Popa, 39