A total 3,295 people made use of various services aimed at aiding those experiencing domestic violence in 2021, data published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) says.

This marks an increase of 12.9% over 2020.

Out of the reports filed, 2,600 (78.9%) were women while the remaining 695 (21.1%) were men.

The services used include emergency shelters for victims, helplines and support.

According to the NSO, the main services used by victims were the Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) within Aġenzija Appoġġ and the Police Department.

Domestic violence cases have taken on a sharper focus since the murder of mother-of-two Bernice Cassar who was shot last November. Her husband has been charged with the murder.

Following her death, a court heard that Cassar had undergone a risk assessment after she filed a police report last May 8, alleging that her husband placed a knife against her neck. Her level of risk was judged by social workers to be medium. She was killed six months later.

The number of people seeking domestic violence services has been on the rise for some time. In 2020, 13.8% more people used such services than in 2019.

Breaking down service users by age and nationality, statistics show that over half of the total registered cases fell between the ages of 30 and 49 with the majority of cases (85.3%) involving Maltese nationals.

While the majority of victims identified as female, 162 (94.7%) abusers were male with only nine women making use of perpetrator services.