'Justice came too late to save Bernice Cassar’: women’s lobby

The Malta Women’s Lobby has expressed “deep disappointment” at two jail sentences – amounting to 11 months in total – handed down to Roderick Cassar in connection with domestic violence incidents reported before he murdered his wife, Bernice, in November 2022.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. In Bernice [Cassar] Cilia’s case, justice was not merely delayed. It came too late to protect her life…

"The fact that a woman who reported serious threats, including being threatened with death and subjected to a knife attack, sees justice delivered only after she has been killed is a devastating indictment of the system,” the Malta Women’s Lobby said.

In November last year, Cassar was sentenced to 40 years in prison for femicide.

He shot the 40-year-old mother of his two children in the neck and chest at close range after intercepting her in traffic on her way to work in Corradino on November 22, 2022.

Before he killed her, Bernice had filed several domestic violence reports.

A week before her murder, Bernice reported to police that her husband had breached a court protection order following a May knife incident. In July, while they were living separately, he had also threatened to kill her. She filed another police report the day before her murder.

She was shot dead the following morning.

On Tuesday, Cassar received a three-month sentence in connection with the knife incident that occurred on May 8, 2022 - Mother’s Day - when he held a knife to her throat. 

An eight-month sentence was imposed for another incident on July 14, 2022. On that day, as previously reported, Cassar was at the hospital, and his wife took their children to the hospital car park to see their father. An argument ensued, during which Cassar threatened to “kill you and blow your brains out.”

A subsequent inquiry led by retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia found that the state failed to adequately protect her, citing a lack of resources and a heavy caseload.

This week, Magistrate Lara Lanfranco delivered the final rulings in three domestic violence cases against Cassar. While she did not read out the full judgments in open court, she said they related to incidents that occurred on May 8, May 31, and July 14, 2022.

Cassar was acquitted in relation to the May 31 incident, the details of which are not yet known.

Women's lives depend on swift justice

The Malta Women’s Lobby said: “Women’s lives depend on a justice system that acts swiftly, decisively and consistently. Delayed proceedings, weak enforcement, and lenient outcomes like the one given all contribute to a culture in which perpetrators are not stopped in time, and victims are left exposed.”

The lobby said that the additional prison terms of only a few months for incidents of such gravity “send a deeply troubling message to our society”.

People sign a book of remembrance for Bernice Cassar at the University of Malta. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

“When a woman reports that she has been threatened with being killed, and when violence has already escalated to life-threatening levels, the response must be urgent, serious and protective. Anything less places women at further risk... Bernice Cilia did what women are repeatedly told to do. She reported. She sought help. She relied on the authorities to protect her. Yet the system failed her.

"The sentence now delivered cannot undo that failure, nor can it restore the life that was taken. It can only remind us, again, how dangerous it is when domestic violence is treated as a lesser offence until it becomes femicide,” the lobby said as it stressed that women’s lives depend on a justice system that acts swiftly, decisively and consistently.

“Women in Malta deserve protection while they are still alive,” they said.