Chantelle Chetcuti’s name has been added to a list of women killed in Malta since 2010 in attacks suspected to have been carried out by men who were close to them. Vanessa Conneely recalls the victims.

 

Christine Sammut, 40
Died: December 2010, Mġarr
Christine was shot dead by her ex-boyfriend, Kenneth Gafà, as she sat in her car. His last text to her read: “You might have to change your arrogant attitude but don’t be surprised I will be the one to change that.”  He was jailed for 35 years.

Irena Abadzhieva, 38
Died: June 2011, Buġibba
Irena, a Bulgarian woman living in Malta, was found dead in her rented flat after being stabbed 40 times. Her body was discovered only after neighbours complained about the smell. The chief suspect is a Turkish man who used to share her flat. Her murder remains unsolved. 

Karen Cheatle, 54
Died: July 2011, Mellieħa
Karen was found drowned at her apartment. The British woman had moved to Malta in 2004 after a divorce. She had been dating 52-year-old John Agius for about six months before her death. The police believe he killed her at her home, before dying by suicide. 

Yvette Gajda, 38
Died: November 2012, St Paul’s Bay
Mother-of-five Yvette suffered 60 stab wounds after a pair of scissors was used to knife her in the head, neck and shoulders. Her partner, Laszlo Nandor Marton, 57, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. 

Margaret Mifsud, 31
Died: April 2012, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq
Lawyer Margaret was found strangled in her car, after a night out. Her ex-husband, Nizar El Gadi, was found guilty of killing her and was sentenced to life. During his trial one of the couple’s two daughters described him as “the worst dad in the world.”

Meryem Bugeja, 40
Died: September 2012, Mġarr
Meryem was five months pregnant with twins when she was found dead at her home with head wounds. Forensic DNA tests on the unborn twins showed her estranged husband was notthe father. Her murder remains unsolved.

Silvana Muscat, 36
Died: March 2015, St Paul’s Bay
Silvana was found lying on her bed after being stabbed five times. She had filed several police reports against her estranged husband, Ibrahim Hamid.
A few weeks before her death, a court ordered him not to contact her. He left Malta after her death and remains one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives.

Eleanor Mangion, 33
Died: June 2016, Qormi
Eleanor was found dead in a warehouse in Qormi, after being struck with a hatchet to the head. Her former partner and father of her daughter, Andrew Mangion, stands accused of murdering her.

Caroline Magri, 41
Died: September 2016, San Ġwann
Caroline was found in her bed after her ex-partner, Djibril Ganiou, slashed her throat. Before her death, she had gone to the police after he threatened her. He was jailed for 30 years. 

Maria Carmela Fenech,74 and Antonia Micallef, 71
Died: July 2018, Għargħur
Kevin Micallef, 42, is accused of attacking his aunt and mother with a bread knife after an argument over his suspicion that the women were secretly putting tranquilisers into his coffee. His  mother died on the floor of her home. His aunt later died in hospital but on the way she told a paramedic that her nephew had attacked her. Proceedings continue. 

Shannon Mak, 23
Died: August 2018, St Venera
The Dutch woman was beaten, kicked and stabbed in the neck. Her body was found in a pool of blood between a parked car and a garden wall. Her former colleague and boyfriend, Jelle Rijpma, is accused of her murder.

Lourdes Agius, 35
Died: September 2018, Paola
The mother-of-seven was found strangled at her home in Paola by her mother. The main suspect is her partner – and father of two of her children – Michael Emmanuel from the Ivory Coast. He had claimed insanity but his plea was thrown out by a jury. 

Maria Lourdes, 70, and Angele Bonnici, 29
Died: March 2019
The mother and daughter were found shot dead and partially buried in a field off Gudja. Joseph Bonnici, who initially reported them missing, is accused of killing his mother and sister. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.