It was the year of Love Island and scandal, a year of tragedies and an indomitable woman's quest for justice. It was a year of economic highs, and the year of Air Malta's low. There was a bit of everything in 2023 and Times of Malta was there to report it.
The year got off to a heartbreaking start with the gruesome murder of young Turkish pedestrian Pelin Kaya when a car mowed her down and crashed into a petrol station in Gzira.
It was a year dominated by the aftermath of the construction site death of Jean Paul Sofia and his mother's ultimately successful efforts to get the government to appoint a public inquiry.
It was also a year of scandal, notably in the way some driving tests were conducted and how a former Labour MP, Silvio Grixti, and other government officials were implicated in helping hundreds of people fraudulently receive monthly disability payments they were not entitled to. The National Audit Office also concluded that former Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar’s consultancy job at the Institute of Tourism Studies was ‘fraudulent’.
2023 was also the year when the courts struck down the controversial government deal to hand over the management of three state hospitals to Vitals/Steward.
This was also a year for sporting success for Malta in the Small States of Europe and the Malta women's football team also ended the year with a year.