Nationalist Party MPs will unanimously vote in favour of a bill that introduces femicide as a concept in the criminal code, Bernard Grech told parliament on Monday.
The bill lays out circumstances when a homicide, or attempted murder, is deemed to have been committed because of a woman or girl’s gender. These new ‘femicidal circumstances’ will be used to limit the judiciary's discretion when it comes to sentencing.
Under the proposed amendments, when a man is convicted of wilful homicide against a woman, the court must consider whether hatred towards women was a motivating factor and if so, mete out the harshest possible penalty merited. Additionally, ‘crime of passion’ will no longer be a permissavle defence when a man commits violence against a woman.
The bill follows the murder of Paulina Dembska, a young Polish woman who was raped and murdered at the Sliema Independence Gardens early on January 2.
The murder had sparked a wave of calls for legislation to protect women, but Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis had said femicide cannot be listed as a crime or an aggravating offence to homicide since murder, irrespective of gender, already carried the maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The PN had come out in favour of having femicide codified as a specific criminal offence, arguing that doing so would facilitate research and monitoring into gender-based murders.
Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis had initially said there was no need to introduce femicide as a legal concept. But the government quickly changed tack and two weeks later Prime Minister Robert Abela had announced on Facebook that femicide would be included in the criminal code.
Abela: Society still too patriarchal
Addressing parliament on Monday, Abela said MPs had a responsibility to ensure a safe country for women and a legislative framework that protected them.
He acknowledged that all life was valued equally, however, everyone was also aware that women often found themselves in a more vulnerable position than men, he said.
Our society, Abela added, was still too patriarchal and based on gender stereotypes and there were women who suffered in silence behind closed doors. Legislators could not turn a blind eye to such realities, he said.
“These amendments won’t ensure there is no repeat of such crimes, but they mean we are doing everything we can,” he said, adding that the emancipation of women remained one of the government’s main aims.
“We are acknowledging the reality that women are exposed to more violence. We are sending a message to those who are suffering in silence that we can offer them a shoulder to lean on. Speak up,” he urged them.
Grech: Politicians must send clear message
Also addressing parliament, PN leader Grech said the murder took place in a space that is deemed safe, in broad daylight.
Dembska’s murder had shocked the country not because people thought something like this would never happen, but because it had confirmed something they feared: that despite changes in the law, the failures of institutions could leave a negative impact on society.
Grech said that while it was still too early to understand what had happened, had previous reports been taken more seriously and public spaces monitored better, Dembska might have been safer.
The amendments in the law were just the beginning, and the PN will vote in favour not because the bill is perfect, but because politicians needed to send a clear message that they wanted a safer place for women, he said, adding that the bill could be perfected at committee stage.