People paying tribute to murder victim Paulina Dembska can now gather their thoughts while seated at a bench dedicated to all Malta’s femicide victims.

The Sliema promenade bench has been painted red and bears a plaque reading "We remember Paulina. No horror could extinguish her light. No more excuses. Protect women."

The quote is from a speech given by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who inaugurated the bench on Friday morning. Paulina's sister, Daria Dembska, was present at the inauguration as was Sliema mayor John Pillow.

Dembska, a Polish student, was 29 when she was killed in Independence Gardens on January 2, 2022. Abner Aquilina has been charged with her murder and is pleading not guilty. 

The violent and random killing horrified the country and led to legislators making changes to the criminal code to punish killers more harshly when the crime is deemed a femicide.

Two years after her murder, the case against Aquilina is nowhere near its end and Dembska’s family have lashed out at delays and said the accused appears to be receiving more psychological help than his victim’s family.

The idea for the bench came after seeing a similar installation in Italy as part of that country’s ‘Posto Occupato’ (Seat Taken) campaign to stop violence against women.

Speaking to Times of Malta on Friday, Daria explained that she and her sister had seen the bench inside a church in Trento, Italy during Christmas, just weeks before the murder.

"Paulina asked me what it meant," Daria recalled, saying she explained the concept to her sister, who said it would be a good idea to have similar installations in Malta and Poland.

"The point of this bench is to not only be a memorial for those we lost, but also to bring awareness about violence against women in our society. I don't want another family or woman to suffer and experience the pain we are going through,” Daria Dembska said.

The inauguration of the bench comes a day after the one-year anniversary of the murder of Pelin Kaya, a Turkish interior designer killed hours into her 30th birthday.

During Friday’s event, Daria also presented a drawing by her young daughter to Metsola.

The European Parliament is also understood to be looking into options to replace a memorial poster featuring a photo of Dembska and poem that was vandalised last year.