The system that failed Bernice Cassar in November 2021 has now failed Nicolette Ghirxi, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Monday as he lashed out at the government for failing to allocate sufficient resources for domestic violence reports to be tackled promptly.
Ghirxi was fatally stabbed in her apartment in Birkirkara, allegedly by her estranged Irish partner who was later killed by police when he pointed a replica gun at them.
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa' told journalists that Ghirxi filed harassment reports twice in April and May pointing fingers at her former partner, Edward Johnston, an Irishman. At the time the police established that Johnston was in Ireland. Johnston was viewed as having harassed but not threatened Grixti, the commissioner said.
Late on Thursday Ghirxi told police by email that she suspected Johnston was in Malta.
In a statement, Grech observed that Gafa' admitted that her latest report was still being processed because it was considered "low risk".
Grech recalled the murder of Bernice Cassar in a shooting in Corradino in November 2021. An independent inquiry had established that the system had failed Cassar and the authorities were responsible for her death because they lacked sufficient resources to give proper attention to reports of domestic violence.
"Today the system failed once again and killed Nicolette Ghirxi," Grech said.
"We cannot continue failing one woman after another, one family after another," Grech said.
This, he added, was another failure by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, who after Cassar's murder, was unable to make sure that the police had enough resources to take Nicolette's report seriously before it was too late.
"Every woman, every person, needs to be assured that whenever a report is filed to the police, it is taken seriously and acted upon promptly to ensure protection.
Grech thanked all those members of the police who, at personal risk, tried to prevent such cases and faced the aggressors.
But the government needed to allocate the necessary resources to the police and other authorities so that they could act before another femicide occurred," he said.