A brother of Raymond Caruana has said the investigations into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia have given him hope that there could finally be justice for his family as they mark the 33rd anniversary of the killing.

The 26-year-old was gunned down months before his wedding while attending a reception at a Nationalist Party club in Gudja on December 5, 1986. 

It marked the apex of a politically tumultuous period that turned violent and remains unsolved decades on.

His brother Jimmy, now 74, told Times of Malta that the investigations around the Caruana Galizia murder have given him hope.

“He was killed in vain – a true freedom martyr – and I think that the perpetrator will soon be brought to justice because his case is on everyone’s lips following the assassination of Ms Caruana Galizia," he said.

Jimmy Caruana was the first of his siblings to be told about the death of 26-year-old Raymond. Photo: Jason Borg

He said his brother “never bothered anyone” and that his “murderer is still running free despite his identity being known by some, including politicians."

Jimmy, was the first of 11 surviving siblings to learn of the death of their youngest brother Raymond.

“It was 3.30am. I looked out from the balcony, and when I saw so many police officers outside our front door I immediately thought that there had been some robbery at the museum of archaeology department, of which I was the foreman.

“It never, in a million years, crossed my mind that I was going to be given the most devastating news."

When he opened the door he found doctor Jimmy Farrugia, who tried to break the news slowly.

“By the fourth ‘tell me what’s going on’, the doctor blurted out ‘they took our Raymond’. 

“It didn't immediately hit me. I told the doctor I wanted to go see him at hospital. But when he told me ‘they took him forever’, I passed out,” Jimmy recalls. 

Then 41, Jimmy, who is the third eldest sibling, had to be helped to his bed, while his wife broke the news to the rest of the family.

One by one the siblings headed to Jimmy’s house in Gudja in the early hours of the morning of December 5, wondering who would have harmed their little brother, a carpenter by trade.  

Thirty-three years on, they are none the wiser

The young man’s murder was the culmination of years of violence where Labour supporters often rallied to silence the Nationalist opposition, at times with the blessing of the police.

Back then, the late Pietru Pawl Busuttil had been accused of the murder after the weapon was planted in his Safi farmhouse. 

He was later absolved of all accusations with the court confirming he was the victim of a frame-up.

The then Labour Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had visited the family soon after the murder.

In 2008, a few months after he took over as Labour Party leader, Joseph Muscat tried to close this dark chapter by holding a short private meeting with two of Raymond’s brothers, Albert and Tarċisio.

But so far no one has approached the family with any developments on the case.

Joseph Muscat during his short meeting with Albert and Tarċisio Caruana in2008.