Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443447
PAULINA Dembska's femicide on the second day of the new year was a moment of reckoning for Maltese society. It's chilling effect helped to facilitate a new wave of much-needed thought and discussion about violence against women which, has often been considered taboo in the recent past. It is heartening to see an up- tick in women, such as Fiona Cauchi and Ritianne Tabone, courageously discuss their own horrifying experiences of physi- cal aggression in the public eye, as well as men come forward to show solidarity with victims of sexual assault. Less encouraging are the wor- rying narratives that surround the rape and murder of Paulina, which underline the persistence of dangerous misconceptions around sexual violence and women's rights in Malta. The latest example is an article in last Sunday's Times of Mal- ta, 'My attacker was strangling me before trying to rape me'. This article peddles a narrative that is like a barbed-wire fence keeping us away from the very thing Maltese society should be focused on achieving: criminal justice and a deterrent effect. The stand-out statement in Mark Lawrence Zammit's inter- view of Fiona Cauchi is that "in a rape, there are two victims - the victim and the perpetrator." While important to recognise that this quote is based on one woman's experience and opin- ion and should be unambigu- ously labelled as such, we need to be conscious of the impact that such a quote can have on the broader debate, especially within the context of our coun- try's recent history. Under the Victims of Crime Act of the Laws of Malta, the definition of the word "victim" is as follows: "a natural person who has suffered harm, includ- ing physical, mental or emo- tional harm or economic loss which was directly caused by a criminal offence." While acknowledging that both the perpetrator and the victim of the crime can suffer, it is important not to confuse victimhood with suffering. The victim suffers unfairly through no fault of their own, while the very point of the justice system is to ensure that the perpetrator does suffer a loss of liberty and public shame to create a de- terrent. If the perpetrator also happens to suffer from a men- tal illness, that is incidental and does not cancel out the suffer- ing of the person who was sexu- ally assaulted. Irrespective of the back- ground, facets and nuances of a rape and murder case, referring to sexually violent predators as 'victims' is not only legally in- correct but subtracts respon- sibility and intent from their criminal actions. If everyone is a victim, then who is the per- petrator? If we were to rewrite the law to recognise criminals as victims of their own criminal actions, we would put the entire justice system into question. According to the World Health Organisation, an esti- mated 120,000 people were liv- ing with a mental disorder in Malta in 2020. That is almost a quarter of the population. No- where did we refer to this huge portion of our population as 'victims' - not until a man alleg- edly raped and murdered Pauli- na Dembska. Rape is a criminal offence, not a mental disorder. The act of committing sexual assault, and suffering from a mental illness, are two distinct things. The da- ta that we have on rape shows that most sex offenders are not mentally ill at all. While some perpetrators have a psycholog- ical disorder that lowers their inhibitions, there is no disorder that, in its own right, compels people to rape. Linking the two throws us off the path to true justice for victims of sexual as- sault and continues to stigma- tise people with severe mental illnesses. Let's be clear, the major mo- tive for most rapes is not sexual attraction, but power and con- trol. Rapes tend not to be spur- of-the-moment events either: most rapes are pre-meditated, and only a fraction of rapists are strangers to their victims. While sex offenders are likely to have a history of sexual abuse themselves, an abundance of lit- erature confirms that misogyny plays a significant role in driv- ing their actions. This explains why while girls are more likely to experience sexual abuse than boys in their childhood, 99% of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are men. By focusing narrowly on the mental health or individual suf- fering of sexually violent pred- ators including rapists, and not the misogyny that underpins their actions, we not only risk failing to deliver justice for their victims, but also absolve society of the responsibility to deal with the broader issue at hand. Fundamentally, the article's message confuses Christian forgiveness, and a perhaps ap- plaudable willingness to under- stand where all people are com- ing from, with criminal justice. The two processes are distinct. But in a country like Malta, where forgiveness is abundant and justice for women is scarce - with time-barring for sexual crimes still in place and 85% of rape cases estimated unreport- ed - the focus needs to be on criminal justice rather than re- inforcing the idea, which finds fertile ground in a misogynistic culture, that we should forgive and forget. Even with regards to the small- er proportion of rape, sexual assault, or domestic violence cases that are actually report- ed, Cauchi is right that "women [are] never safe [because] the perpetrators are often handed suspended sentences or a few years in prison, and then they are back wandering the streets." In 2017, a 31-year-old man from Birkirkara who injured his wife and son during a violent domestic argument was handed a suspended sentence after fil- ing a guilty plea. In 2018, a 38-year-old man from St. Paul's Bay was hand- ed a suspended sentence and ordered to go to anger man- agement classes after physically harming, insulting and threat- ening his wife. In 2020, Rion Azzopardi was fined €500 and handed a sus- pended sentence for threat- ening his pregnant ex-partner with violence. Glenn Carabott, the police sergeant who in 2021 allegedly raped the victim of a burglary he was meant to assist, has been granted bail because he would like to care for his elderly moth- er. Many other cases resulted in ridiculously low sentences for crimes as serious as femicide too. One of the most shocking is that of Diane Gerada in 1993 who was stabbed to death more than 20 times by her husband while lying in bed at their home in Marsaxlokk. Her husband poured lavatory cleaner over her gushing wounds while she died on the balcony in front of her toddler. And while the court found Grazio Gerada guilty, it ruled that he was react- ing to provocation and thus was sentenced to only four years im- prisonment. In Meryem Bugeja's case, she was found dead at her residence in Mġarr in 2012 with blows to her head while pregnant with twins. The Police, after initial- ly thinking that the woman fell and hit her head, decided to question her husband, only to release him soon after due to lack of evidence. These are just a few examples which prove that many wom- en have been, and continue to be, robbed of justice in face of a rampant culture of misogy- ny in Malta. While seeking to understand the mind of sexu- ally violent predators is impor- tant in a preventative sense, we must be extremely cautious not to miss the wood for the trees. Underestimating or blatantly ignoring the prevalent culture of misogyny we live and breathe can lead to victim-blaming, the watering-down of sexual assault cases, and an outright miscar- riage of justice. It is also often the reason why many reports of abuse by women as well as men, are not taken seriously. Just a few months ago, the The Mal- ta Women's Lobby raised the alarm about indifference shown by police in reports of sexu- al assault, while The Maltese Association of Social Workers (MASW) expressed concern that an alleged rape victim has had to wait over a year to be heard by the police. To conclude, the narrative is crucial in ensuring a construc- tive and fair debate. But without progressive policy to educate the next generations about con- sent, and the proper enforce- ment of the law for all mani- festations of gendered crimes, there is little hope that anything will change. Women are desperately look- ing to our authorities and pol- iticians to, aside from lighting candles, give women back their autonomy to exercise their most basic and mundane rights, such as to walk home alone safely. 13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JANUARY 2022 Alessandra Baldacchino is a policy manager based in London OPINION Alessandra Baldacchino In Malta, forgiveness for rape is abundant but justice for women is scarce While sex offenders are likely to have a history of sexual abuse themselves, an abundance of literature confirms that misogyny plays a significant role in driving their actions