There are many reasons proffered as to why magisterial inquiries take so long, from magistrates’ workload to their reliance on external court experts. 

Whatever these are, there are mounting pressures on the judiciary to conclude them in a timely manner, especially in the interest of those whose lives have been put on hold while they are under way.

We have simply had too many cases of justice delayed – tantamount to justice being denied. This means systemic failures are not rectified, culprits are not identified and already-low standards fall even further. 

Whether we are talking about traffic accidents, construction appeals or occupational tragedies, we have lost the deterrent factor.

People with malicious intent are far more likely to stray into illegal, negligent or ill-advised actions if they think that they will get away with it.

But the issue is not only a matter of national shame: there is also a human angle all too often being ignored, causing untold emotional harm to all those who are a party to the inquiry.

Imagine your entire life being put on hold for years on end, with no information forthcoming from any of the authorities, unable to find closure, let alone relief that your tragedy could shake up the status quo.

The latest protest against this deafening silence came recently from the family of Asger Emil Neidhardt. The Danish tourist was killed in a traffic accident in October 2023 in the early hours of the morning by a car driven in the Regional Road tunnels.

This silence deeply affects those involved, creating a vacuum which is then filled by conspiracy theories and doubts that justice will ever be served

A magisterial inquiry was opened but the youth’s father cannot believe that they have yet to find out what happened on that fateful night – let alone whether there will be consequences for the driver, who also has the cloud of uncertainty hanging over his life.

The police say the family were given updates; the father disputes this, even though it appears that the police investigations have been completed. He said he never heard anything via the Danish authorities and that he sent eight e-mails to the Attorney General’s Office and made countless phone calls, only to be told each time that the magisterial inquiry has not yet been concluded. 

This silence deeply affects those involved, creating a vacuum which is then filled by conspiracy theories and doubts that justice will ever be served.

This is why the family of 17-year-old Mike Mansholt, who was found dead at the foot of Dingli Cliffs in 2016, resorted to asking the German courts to re-order the Maltese authorities to reopen investigations, with several inconsistencies between the local authorities’ version and the findings in Germany. 

There has been one notable glimmer of hope: the successful insistence of construction victim Jean Paul Sofia’s mother for action to the taken. Isabelle Bonnici read the plea by Neidhardt’s father and urged him to keep fighting for answers, stressing that doing so would give others the courage to fight for their rights.

Let us put aside the separate issue of whether inquiries should be published and of the recently announced plans to amend the criminal code.

Whether a bizarre case, a one-off tragedy or a systemic failure, without that all important magisterial inquiry, nothing can progress.

UK Chief Justice Lord Hewart had said that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.

We should put this alongside the need for justice to be timely – and insist that things are done this way from today onwards. Too many families continue suffering in silence.