Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Wednesday it was “unacceptable” that it was going to take more than a year for the domestic violence case against Bernice Cassar’s husband to start being heard.

In comments to Times of Malta he said the government had accepted the request for more magistrates and judges to be appointed and one of those new magistrates would focus specifically on domestic violence.

Having a case being heard nine months, a year or more later is not acceptable- Prime Minister Robert Abela

Cassar was shot on her way to work on Tuesday after allegedly enduring months of domestic violence at the hands of her husband, who is the police's prime suspect.

A sitting for a case against her husband was set for November 2023, despite it being initiated in May 2022.

"Having a case being heard nine months, a year or more later is not acceptable," Abela said.

He also said he felt "angry and scared" in the wake of the shocking murder of Cassar, a mother of two.

Both as a prime minister and father of a 10-year-old girl, he experienced anger, fear and sadness upon hearing of the murder.

"Despite making changes to strengthen the institutions, even if you have one death, you did not do enough," Abela said.

The government has launched an independent inquiry to establish whether any state institutions failed to prevent the killing.