Some of us remember, in strange graphic detail, what we were doing when we heard that Daphne Caruana Galizia had been assassinated. I hope to never again relive the same sadness or horror I felt. The indescribable void that enveloped me.

Yet, strangely, I have no recollection of the day I heard that the Daphne Project had been launched. I remember the feeling of elation but the date, the circumstances, the place I was at when I was told are all vaguely lost in a misty past.

When Daphne died, it seemed as if I, or my soul and the soul of a country, had died. With Daphne silenced, with Daphne gone, nothing could ever be the same.

Then, at some point, her work, which was seen as so relevant that it was talked about all over the globe, was taken over by an international group of top journalists from the leading media of the globe and her investigations were to go ahead.

The day this was announced I felt I could live, breathe, find consolation in the thought that we, or some of us, do have a soul. And that the nation could rediscover its soul. We could smile and celebrate.

None of us, at least not the ones with a human heart, can ever be as happy as we were before Daphne was butchered by a car bomb. Because, whatever the world, the politicians, the journalists, the sympathisers  and believers in Daphne have done or said, nothing can fill the void left by Daphne’s killing.

A woman, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a human being, was deprived of life. No one can bring her back to smile at her parents and children; or her children’s children who were born after she was executed.

Notwithstanding all this, I remember that, on hearing about the Daphne Project, I smiled and laughed and felt that I could feel true happiness. I thought of Daphne somewhere in the afterlife – wherever that is, whatever it is – and saw her smiling, laughing, enjoying together with us this glorious move in the sad sick society that we inhabit.

Her work was to go on. Her work of unravelling the worst excesses of the mafia state that Malta has become was not going to be buried with her.

The beast had killed her. The beast had constantly tried annihilating her, dehumanising her, even while she was alive. Then, finally, the beast got rid of her in the only way brutes function: she was brutally disposed of.

Yet, by some strange power even beyond the grave, nothing was going to stop the work she had commenced from hitting out at the beast, from coming back to torment, to chase and to challenge the beast.

Was the beast, the beast that seemed totally indestructible, losing out after all?

The Daphne Project was to see to this. Everything about our country was going to be uncovered, unleashed. The criminal perpetrators and facilitators were going to be ousted, hopefully investigated, and duly sentenced.

With Daphne silenced, with Daphne gone, nothing could ever be the same- Victor Calleja

A lot happened. A lot was unearthed and uncovered. A lot of work was done by the Daphne Project. This was a wonderful continuation of all Daphne’s work.

Other investigative journalists and intrepid fighters for justice and truth have carried on the fight against the horrors of Malta and its political class.

Yet, the beast still managed to keep winning. Nobody has managed to do what Daphne did alone, exposing wrongdoing, injustice, corruption and the excesses of the ruling class in Malta and their grip on the authorities. No one came close to her power of investigation.

Her shadow, her effect, is still felt. But she is still, and will always be, sorely missed not just as a woman of immense potential but as a life force who chased and uncovered unimaginable corruption.

The horrors of this government, of the opposition party, of businessmen, of the many facilitators are still being uncovered. But no one has dictated the nation’s agenda the way Daphne did. With her, stories never disappeared off our main news channels. Without her, most of the horrors are quickly swept aside and forgotten.

The beast, that deadly beast which still grants impunity to the worst excesses of our land, is still winning.

Daphne and her pen’s power will never be back. Her life can never be revived and so the beast has done its job well.

By joining Daphne’s commemoration on Sunday, October 16, you might not get her or her pen back. But you will show the beast that not all want it to triumph perpetually in this land of ours.

Some of us have a soul and want this country to have a proper soul, conscience and life. And some of us want proper, not fake, justice to be done.

Victor Calleja is a former publisher.