If proven to be theft related, the double murder of Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Maciejowski could be the first fatal hold-up in 19 years, after a 34-year-old police constable was killed while guarding a Bank of Valletta branch in 2001.
On Tuesday, the police apprehended 25-year-old Albanian national Daniel Muka in connection with the murders, in a dramatic Floriana raid. Found with a gun in his hand, Murka was hauled off in just a pair of shorts and flip flops. Another arrest was made on Wednesday night
Later that evening, Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà addressed a news conference and said investigators were working on the assumption that the murders were motivated by theft.
While police are still establishing what was taken from the couple’s house on Locker Street in Sliema, both Pandolfino and Maciejowski were known to be wealthy, collecting art and often seen wearing gold chains on their necks.
Police did not rule out the possibility that gold items had been taken off the bodies of the slain men.
If so, their deaths would be the first related to theft in 19 years.
Police Constable Roger Debattista, a father of two, was shot dead while on extra duty at a Bank of Valletta branch in Qormi in 2001.
Debattista had spotted three armed and hooded men rushing towards the entrance and in an attempt to defend himself and the bank’s clientele, lunged to lock the door.
Shots rang out and the constable was injured but not fatally. One of the robbers pulled up towards Debattista and shot him again, point blank in the stomach.
The thieves made off with around Lm5,000 (€11,646.90), which the police later recovered in its entirety.
Żabbar native Andy Calleja, who was 20 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to the murder and received a life sentence, with Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono calling him “a serious threat to society” during the sentencing.
Mario Borg, of Żebbug, Ian Galdes, of Qormi, and Mark George Falzon, of Ħamrun, Calleja’s accomplices, were also charged for their involvement in the robbery.
Borg and Galdes were sentenced to seven years in jail while Falzon was sentenced to five.
In 2010, Debattista’s memory was honoured with a bronze bust erected just across the road from the spot where he was killed.
His weeping mother, Maria Assunta, was transfixed with his likeness and had to be gently helped away to join Debattista’s widow and two children.
“He died to defend, protect and save the lives of others. He died while serving the community. He died to honour the oath he took when he joined the police force,” former police Commissioner John Rizzo said at the time.