The husband of Miriam Pace, who was killed in a Ħamrun house collapse, has urged politicians to refrain from using the tragedy to gain political mileage, as he marked the fifth year since the passing of the mother-of-two.

"Today is the fifth year since your life was torn away from ours," Carmel Pace wrote on Facebook, addressing Miriam, and noting that together with their two children, he has spent five years recalling the family's fond memories.

"I cannot tell whether the word 'justice' makes me laugh or cry. As I've always said, human justice can skew facts, turning the guilty into the victim, and the victim into the guilty. The true victim remains solely you, Miriam, who was buried under the home you loved so much.

"One other thing that will definitely not help us heal from the trauma is when the tragedy is used in a partisan manner. Like when - during a podcast - the interviewee is asked about a tragedy that has nothing to do with ours, and he justifies what he's done by boasting about what was done with us. I don't know why. Maybe because he didn't know how to answer and this way he felt he was justifying himself," he asked.

Miriam, 54, was buried under the debris of her family home in Triq Joseph Abela Scolaro, Ħamrun, on March 2, 2020, in a construction site incident that prompted an outpouring of public grief and anger as well as promises of reform in the sector.

Carmel did not specify which podcast he was referring to, however, fielding questions about the Jean Paul Sofia tragedy, Robert Abela recently told a Ricky Caruana podcast he had gone to the Ħamrun site in person when Pace's family was still waiting for her body to be found under the debris. 

The prime minister said that on that day he got to know the widower and  established personal contact with him so that whenever he reached out they spoke.

"We provided him with a home and the employment he desired. Behind the scenes, I made sure he got what he deserved through civil compensation," Abela told Caruana.