Updated 1.22pm with police reply

Jacqueline Ghiller is still awaiting justice, two years after her former husband died in a standoff with police and a government doctor, with no word about the status of the magisterial inquiry.

Ronnie Ghiller, 48, died of a sudden heart seizure on May 8, 2020, shortly after police used a stun gun on him and a health department doctor administered a tranquilliser injection to control him.

Ghiller was at the time struggling with mental health problems and was refusing to cooperate with police after they were called to his home in Żabbar over reports that he was throwing mud at people on the street. Toxicology results later showed he was also under the influence of cocaine.

Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace was assigned to carry out an inquiry.

But in an interview a few days after the second anniversary of Ghiller’s death, his former wife Jacqueline told Times of Malta that save for a few police interviews during the week of the incident, nobody from their family or the witnesses were ever called to testify in the inquiry. Neither do they have an indication of the stage which the investigation has reached. 

'Lack of trust in the magisterial inquiry'

She expressed lack of trust in the magisterial inquiry. She said her suspicions were aroused when a few months ago she filed a court request to release Ghiller’s body for burial.

On the death certificate, the health authorities had listed the cause of his death as myocardial hypertrophy (heart seizure) from cocaine toxicity and taser exposure. There was no mention of the tranquilliser injection that the health department doctor administered on him.

“They had managed to control him with the stun gun, why did the doctor need to inject him with the tranquilliser as well?” Jacqueline said.

'Ronnie had mental problems. He needed help'

She questioned the resort to a tranquilliser immediately after use of the stun gun without knowledge of the man’s health condition.

“Ronnie had mental health problems. He needed help. But instead of helping him, they let him die,” she said.

Questions sent to the police and the health authorities remained unanswered at the time of writing.

During their marriage, Jacqueline and Ronnie had two children, who were 12 and 18 when their father died two years ago.

Jacqueline and their son Jake believe Ronnie started to struggle with mental health issues after all three of them were violently run over by a car in a hit and run accident almost 20 years ago.

Jacqueline and Ronnie were walking their 10-month-old son in a pushchair in Marsascala when a driver hit them from behind, flinging Ronnie up in the air and Jacqueline some 70 feet ahead. She landed on the edge of a precipice of a construction site and was grievously injured.

“Had I landed a little further ahead, I would have fallen into the construction pit,” she recalls.

'The shock of his life seeing myself and our son almost dead'

“Jake’s pushchair was shoved against a wall and the 10-month-old baby had a broken arm and was bleeding from his head. Ronnie was hurt the least but he had the shock of his life seeing both our son and myself almost dead on the ground.”

Jake said his mother was so badly injured that he could not recognise her.

Jacqueline and Jake say Ronnie had struggled mentally ever since, until in 2020, following the pandemic outbreak, he started to become extremely paranoid that he would contract the virus and die.

On that fateful day in May, he began to obsess over a line of people who were queuing at a hardware store that operates next door to his home in Żabbar. The socially-distanced line stretched all the way to his door, causing him to believe those people might have had the virus and would give it to him.

He tried telling them off, but when they would not budge, he started throwing mud at them from his roof. That is when police were called to his home to contain him.

He seemed to calm down and the police left, only to return later after they received fresh reports.

'Second time, a health department doctor joined the police'

“The second time, a health department doctor joined them and Ronnie seemed to be particularly terrified of him because he was afraid of injections,” Jacqueline said.

“He was very resistant. The police managed to get into his house and he fled upstairs and into a bedroom. That is when they threw a sheet over his head and pulled him back and used a stun gun on him to control him.

“It was all fine till that point. But then, the doctor came and immediately administered a tranquilliser injection. And Ronnie died.

“He was killed. Had they not done that, Ronnie would not have died that day for sure.”

Jacqueline said witnesses saw several police on the scene and she still cannot understand how all those officers were not able to contain one man.

“He’s been dead for two years and it seems like nobody cares. It’s as if a dog died. He did not deserve to die like that,” she said.

“I want justice and I will not rest until justice is delivered. I will keep fighting for Ronnie, and those who are responsible for his death should pay for what they did.”

Jacqueline said she still finds it hard to believe that Ronnie died, and her children are still suffering the psychological trauma of the loss of their father, amid other financial challenges that hit the family.

'I see them cry for their father every day and I cry with them'

“I see them cry for their father every day and I cry with them. My daughter still listens to the voice messages he used to send her,” she said.

“Their father was stolen from their lives when they were too young.”

Jake said: “My father died and I never got the chance to see him one last time or tell him that I love him. I feel like I was abandoned.

“My sister and I couldn’t even see his body until a few months ago, when we got permission to bury him. But then, we were shocked, because he was very different to how we remember him.

“I don’t know if justice will ever prevail for my father. But at least I want to keep his name alive. I refuse to let him be forgotten.”

Police: Inquiry exonerated us

Malta's police force did not reply to questions prior to publication but sent in a response after Times of Malta published the article online on Monday morning. 

A police spokesperson indicated that the magisterial inquiry which the Ghiller family has heard nothing about was concluded.

"The inquiry that took place exonerated the police of any criminal responsibility and concluded that the stun gun was used according to the 'Standard Operating Procedure for the use of Conducted Electrical Weapons’," the spokesperson said.

The decision to tranquilise Ghiller was taken by a doctor or medical professional, he added.