Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1272935
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JULY 2020 OPINION 'unbelievable' by July 2020… a mere eight months later? The second fallacy is that – just as there is a difference be- tween 'suicide' and 'self-harm' – there is also a slight difference between 'extremely rare' and 'totally unheard of'. Admittedly, slashing one's own throat does (almost) fall into the latter category… at least, insofar as traditional su- icide methods are concerned. As a method of self-harm, how- ever… that's a totally different story. A quick search on the internet will reveal not just dozens of re- ported, well-documented cas- es… but entire studies have been published into the same phe- nomenon. One is even entitled: 'Neck Cutting Behaviour: Par- aphilia or Suicide Attempt?'… suggesting that there is a rec- ognised pathological behaviour pattern, involving self-inflicted knife-wounds to that part of the body, that – while undeniably rare – is nonetheless a reality that is known to science. Besides, we must also factor in Melvin Theuma's precise psy- chological frame of mind at the time of the incident. Again, this is not exactly easy: given that (unaccountably) neither the po- lice nor the law-courts actually ordered a psychological evalua- tion to be conducted… despite clear indications that the victim might have been suffering from, at minimum, depression. But taking into consideration the sheer intensity of the stress that man must have been un- der… who's to say what other psychological issues he may al- so have developed, unnoticed, in the meantime? Is it so utter- ly inconceivable, that someone who has such good reason to be intensely paranoid… not to mention his repeated claims of being racked by guilt and re- morse – might not also suffer from self-induced psychosis… to the extent that he might even take a knife in his hands, and literally try to hack himself to pieces? After all, let's not forget that while the events of last Tues- day are indeed 'extremely rare' – almost (but not quite) to the point of being unheard-of – the particular circumstances Theu- ma happens to find himself in are not exactly commonplace, either. This brings us to the oppo- site extreme of the speculation spectrum: those who dismiss the possibility of attempted murder out of hand, on the basis that it's too 'far-fetched'. Here, the core argument seems to be: a) it's highly unlikely that a murderer would be capable of breaking into Theuma's apart- ment – undetected by the two security officers stationed out- side the main entrance, and in the underground garage… or, for that matter, by any of the neighbours – without leav- ing any trace of forced entry… and then, inflict such griev- ous wounds on the victim, ap- parently without any sign of a struggle or disturbance. And I'll stop there for now, because… erm… sorry, but the exact same logical fallacy is al- ready staring us right in the face. 'Implausible' does not mean 'impossible'. So even if the above scenario does indeed ap- pear a little hard to swallow, at first glance… the fact remains that professional hit-men do exist; and some of them are (unfortunately) very, very good at their job. I for one would certainly not exclude that an experienced hired assassin might indeed be perfectly capable of doing all that and, more… especially given that there were only two police officers assigned to pro- tect Melvin Theuma; and (for reasons that are by now well- known) neither was actually in the room with him at the time. As for the lack of a struggle, or any 'defensive wounds'… that, too, takes us deeply in- to the realm of the implausi- ble: for regardless of Theuma's psychological condition, one would assume that a direct threat to his life – in the form of a knife-wielding assailant, sud- denly springing out of nowhere – would prompt a reflex (i.e., subconscious) defence mecha- nism to immediately kick in. At moments such as this, the 'medulla oblongata' tends to take over: i.e., the most primal part of the brain, which is re- sponsible for our all-powerful self-preservation instincts… and which can (and usually does) override all other con- scious mental faculties. But again, that is just an as- sumption. There could be per- fectly valid reasons for this reflex action not to have func- tioned in this case. As already indicated, Melvin Theuma was exhibiting symptoms of de- pression in recent weeks and months – possibly extending to suicidal tendencies – and… well… if he was contemplating taking his own life anyway, and someone suddenly turned up to do precisely that… what ration- al reason would he even have had to put up a fight? And besides: whether he re- sisted an assailant or not… the undeniable fact remains that (at the time of writing, anyway) Melvin Theuma is still alive. Hence argument (b): if our presumed assassin was so very professional as to leave no trace whatsoever of his presence in that apartment to begin with… how on earth could he also have been so unprofessional as to botch the murder so complete- ly? Sadly, it is not possible to an- swer that without resorting to further speculation… but I've been over that already, so here goes. Who ever said that the in- tention was specifically to kill Melvin Theuma in the first place? Maybe they just wanted to cut him up so badly that he'd think twice about ever testifying in this case again. Or maybe it was indeed an outright homi- cide attempt… but the assassin made the mistake of leaving the scene without making double sure that his victim was, in fact, dead. After all, if the media descrip- tions of Theuma's wounds (al- so based, it must be said, on hearsay) are accurate, the knife wound to the throat would have severed his jugular vein… an in- jury which is 99.9% fatal, even without the additional six stab- wounds to the abdomen. Under those circumstances, it would be perfectly natural to assume that Melvin Theuma was lying dead on the floor: or at least, that his death was by that point inevitable. But then again… maybe there wasn't any 'assassin' in that apartment at all. Maybe the press reports about 'severed jugulars' were slightly exagger- ated. Maybe Theuma really did knife himself multiple times – possibly with the intention to kill himself, possibly without – in a violent fit of guilt-induced self-loathing. Maybe, in a nutshell, there are just too many people out there, who are altogether too willing to simply dispense with all log- ical thought-processes… just to arrive at the only conclusion they'd be ready to accept any- way. And maybe – just maybe – that is precisely why we need more detailed, reliable channels of communication in cases such as this: because the only alter- native to reliable information is wild speculation… and it is very clearly getting us nowhere. xxxx