Maltese authorities have issued the first-ever charge of femicide against a man accused of murdering his ex-wife amid a new proposal allowing individuals to background check their partners and calls for profound institutional change in Malta and the EU from European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
Roderick Cassar is accused of shooting his estranged wife Bernice, a mother of two, after she left him, following what police believe is a long pattern of domestic abuse. He is also charged with holding her against her will, assault, moral and psychological violence, theft, damage to her personal property, and having a weapon without a permit.
At the European Parliament this week, Metsola, a Maltese citizen, said, “stop killing women, stop beating women, stop abusing women”. She called the case just one example of the abuse of women in Europe.
“Simply because they are women. For months, Bernice asked for help asked for protection. But no help nor protection ever came. She was left on her own.”
She added that Europe needs proper protection frameworks, more convictions of those who prey on females and to end the remaining institutional blindness to the endemic violence against women.
Times of Malta reported that the victim’s lawyer had asked the police to take urgent action against her ex-husband, who had breached a protection order, asking them to prevent her from becoming a “victim of a tragedy”. The arrest warrant, however, was not issued in time and she was murdered two days later.
The concept of femicide was introduced into Maltese law in early 2022 following the rape and murder of Polish woman Pauling Dembska.
The new law provides judges with the tools to hand down harsher punishments for murders driven by “femicidal intent”. It also stops defendants from arguing that they committed the crime out of “passion”, which had previously been used as a successful line of defence in domestic violence and murder cases.
But not everyone is satisfied, and women’s rights groups have called for more initiatives to educate the population.
“When is tougher action going to be taken against gender-based violence?” the emPOWer group of civil society organisations asked. “And when are we going to implement an educational campaign for all ages and levels of society to bring about a positive culture change?”
Former president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca called for a complete revision of existing laws to protect women, while politicians from both sides said society had failed the victim.
But on Thursday, the government announced the proposal of legislation which would allow individuals to check the police history of their prospective or actual partner to see if they have a history of domestic violence.
Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg said this would allow those in relationships to make informed decisions about their own safety and security.
Malta runs a specific domestic violence unit staffed by 33 officers and five inspectors. Between January and October of this year, a total of 1480 cases were registered — a significant number for a country of some 500,000. Of these 152 cases, just 10% have made it to court so far.
The victim’s sister, Alessia Cilia, has spoken out about the failures of the authorities to protect Cassar.
“She reported and cried for help, but the authorities never really cared. She was sad yesterday [Monday] because Christmas was around the corner, and she was fighting for her safety and that of her children,” she said.
(Alice Taylor | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
