The Police Gender-Based and Domestic Violence Unit issued close to 10,300 charges over the past 31 months, police commissioner Angelo Gafà told a joint session of the social affairs and family affairs parliamentary committees.
The committees discussed domestic violence and the improvements that can be made to prevent femicides and crimes against women.
Gafa’ said that reports filed by victims have been increasing year on year since 2020. (2020: +24 per cent; 2021: +6 per cent; 2022: +5 per cent; 2023: +13 per cent)
By the end of July 2024, reports had increased by another 12 per cent.
Commissioner Gafà said that over the past seven months, 63 per cent of the domestic violence reports involved partners residing in the south of Malta.
While in 2019, a quarter of the lodged reports involved psychological harm, over the past 18 months these had increased to three-fourths.
Since changes to laws concerning domestic violence were enacted in 2023, 10 persons in intimate relationship have checked whether their partners have a history of domestic abuse.
The right to check upon the history of partners, meant to safeguard potential victims, was introduced last year as parliament approved the Domestic Violence Prevention Bill.
Gafà said that since its inception in October 2022, the GBDVU’s complement had increased by 200 per cent, from 20 to 60 police officers, all working on parallel shifts from the Santa Luċija hub and the Police Headquarters in Floriana.
Gafà said that these developments, including the application of a preliminary triage system to assess the risk for the victims, had reduced waiting time by half.
He said that a domestic violence hub that was supposed to open in Mtarfa by the end of this year, is now set to open by June 2025.
The joint-committee session was held eleven days after Nicolette Ghirxi became the latest femicide victim in Malta.
While MPs were precluded from referring to specific high-profile domestic violence cases, police commissioner Gafà addressed criticism levelled at the force following Nicolette Ghirxi’s femicide.
Ghirxi was stabbed to death by her former partner Edward Johnston. The murder took place in the victim’s apartment in Swatar on Sunday 18th August.
Later that night Johnston was shot by police following a three-hour standoff in St Julians after he pointed a weapon that later turned out to be a replica gun.
Ghirxi had filed harassment reports in April 2024 after receiving messages from her former partner while he was abroad.
Johnston returned to Malta a few days before murdering his former partner.
Gafà said that the Schengen system presents a number of challenges to law enforcement agencies because travellers can go in and out of member states at will with little chance of detection.
The police commissioner called upon the judiciary to adopt a uniform approach and insist upon the victims to testify against their perpetrators.
Gafà also confirmed that recordings of domestic violence incidents are admissable in court.During the joint-committee session, MPs raised issues mentioned by retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia into the femicide of Bernice Cassar.
The inquiry had concluded that the state system failed Cassar because of a lack of resources and a heavy caseload.
Police Commissioner Gafà said that the police corps had implemented 100 per cent of the recommendations in the Valenzia report bar the opening of the Mtarfa hub.
On her part, Samantha Pace Gasan, Commissioner for Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence, said that 70 per cent of the recommendations have been implemented.
Pace Gasan described risk assessments as a tool to prioritise victims that are considered high-risk.
While encouraging victims of domestic violence to take risk assessments, Pace Gasan said that women have a right to refuse it.
This was mirrored in statements by FSWS CEO Alfred Grixti and his team who gave an overview of their work.
At the start of the session members of parliament observed a minute’s silence in honour of all femicide victims.