When the sun catches the shiny black tiles of the Gżira shopfront, Alfie’s Hair and Beauty in Sliema Road is the only façade that sparkles in the row of grey and beige buildings that surround it.

The vintage sign in the doorway features the lines of a woman’s face as her voluminous hair billows spectacularly around it.

Alfie’s is named after its creator, famed stylist Alfie Rizzo, whose talented hands styled the locks of a generation of clients. On television, he coiffed the hair of local celebrities and taught viewers how to care for theirs.

What happened to him was unfortunate but it doesn’t define him- Bianca Caruana Curran

Alfie’s life was tragically cut short when he was murdered in his salon 25 years ago today. Two men, Aimen Said Giali El Baden and Ibrahim Shnishah, were found guilty of the crime in 2002 and handed jail terms of 25 and 30 years respectively. The motive was widely believed to be a robbery gone wrong.

But despite the pain and hardship they faced after losing their father, his daughters, Bianca Caruana Curran and Francesca Scerri Rizzo, have striven to keep not just the joy of their father’s memory alive and thriving but also his beloved salon.

Citing her father as an inspiration that spurred her to step into his career, Bianca told Times of Malta that what remains upsetting to the family is that her father is often reduced to his murder in public memory and the loved ones he left behind are often forgotten when he is discussed.

“Alfie was a man of great substance and I get upset that he’s remembered for what happened to him on one night and all the good and positive things he did are forgotten,” she said.

“I acknowledge that news is news and it’s awful, that I can tell you first hand. But I don’t understand why the families of murder victims have to be dragged through the mud. Most people haven’t forgotten what happened.

“It’s upsetting because he’s more than that. What happened to him was unfortunate but it doesn’t define him and it’s not what I think of when I think of him,” Bianca continues.

'I think of his smiling face, the empathy and kindness'

“I think of his smiling face, the empathy and kindness that he showed everybody and, not to sound cheesy, but he’s the person I think of when I need guidance. Even though he’s not here anymore, he is still a great sense of comfort for me.”

Visibly emotional, Francesca said that the family has never tried to “whitewash” the circumstances of their father’s death. However, the violent details of the crime do not overshadow the strong bonds that Alfie fostered in their family unit.

“I don’t think we would have turned out the way we did if we didn’t have the upbringing that both our mother and father strove to give us,” she said.

'He was a really good dad'

“But he was a really good dad and he supported us in everything we wanted to achieve. He encouraged all of us to be independent and never rely on others to get what we need and to do everything that we set out to do with love.”

Alfie, Francesca said, moved heaven and earth to send her to a beauty school in London, all while reassuring her worried mother and making sure that she was still safe and cared for even when living overseas on her own.

The sisters say that both of their parents encouraged them and their younger brother to have confidence and work towards their goals. In the years since their father’s passing they have developed a deeper appreciation for the values he imparted to the family.

I think the one thing that we all took from this situation is empathy- Francesca Scerri Rizzo

“I was 15 when my father died and he was my hero, I idolised him,” Bianca said.

“But now that I’m in my 40s, I realise, as we all do, that my parents are not perfect, because no one is perfect. In that sense, I actually have come to admire my mother and father more because of it.

“I think the one thing that we all took from this situation is empathy,” Francesca adds.

“My husband teases that I get emotional about every swatted fly and it’s true, when I read about certain things in the news, I think, shit, this family is going to go through all this unnecessary heartache and I really empathise.

“I can’t understand why people love to read about others’ misfortunes. As a family, I think we’ve come out even more protective of the experience, but we kept our sense of humour as well.”

Alfie had a wicked sense of humour

Alfie, the sisters say, had a wicked sense of humour and was fond of playing pranks on his family and clients alike.

When the time came to pick up where their father left off with his business, they found only  support from their mother, as well as long-time clients, who had nothing but fondness and stories of kindness to offer about Alfie.

“We have clients who have been coming here for 30 or 40-odd years, some if not most of them we can consider friends,” Francesca said. “In this respect, we are very blessed.”

With her sister already set up as a beauty therapist, Bianca later followed in her father’s footsteps and became a hairdresser herself.

“I think we felt like it was the right thing to do,” she said, on reopening the salon after the murder. Bianca had spent some time shadowing her father and helping there as a teenager but later went on to study overseas, as her father and sister did before her.

“A big chunk of our lives was here, my sister was already invested here and there were eight or 10 girls working in the salon. So it was doable but also a heartbreaking emotional rollercoaster,” Bianca continued.

“But, for me, it’s not like coming to work. We are blessed with clients whom we love like friends and who are very loyal to us and I feel a sense of duty towards them. In a sense, it’s like coming home.

“My father worked so hard to build the salon up and I found myself thinking, why should it die with him? I wanted to keep his legacy alive. And, 20 years later,  here we are.”