Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497950
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 APRIL 2023 4 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA MALTA has experienced a dou- ble-digit spike in women seek- ing assistance over the island's epidemic of domestic violence crime. In 2021, the rate of women – who formed 78.9% of service us- ers – who needed support over domestic violence, climbed by 12.9% over 2020. The increase, compared to 2019, is 28.5%, from 2,565 to 3,295. The figures continue to shed light on the urgency to provide immediate assistance to victims of domestic violence, who are outrightly women, in the wake of femicides and murders in which husbands killed their wives de- spite being reported to the po- lice's Domestic Violence Unit. There was national outrage at the state of Malta's support ser- vices for murder victim Bernice Cilia, a mother of two shot dead in daylight by estranged hus- band Roderick Cassar, where a government inquiry found that the State failed to protect her because of lack of resources and increased work load. The latest NSO data shows that during 2021, 171 persons – 94% male – made use of ser- vices available for perpetrators, such as the 'Stop!' programme at Aġenzija Appoġġ and the Department of Probation and Parole. In 2021, as in previous years, the main services used by per- sons experiencing domestic violence were the Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) within Aġenzija Appoġġ (2,461 reg- istered cases) and the Police Department (1,918 individual reports). More than half of the total cas- es registered across all services involved persons aged 30-49, the majority involving Maltese nationals (85.4%). Domestic violence cases in 2021 climbed by 13% over previous years By means of an application filed in the Civil Courts of Voluntary Jurisdiction Section, on the 23rd February, 2023, Application number 358/2023, by Natalino Gino Ellul et whereby they requested that it be declared open in favour of Natalino Gino Ellul and Gino Angelo Ellul children of the decujus in equal shares between them the succession of Carmelo Giuseppe Lino Ellul, divorced from Joan Ellul nee Baker, son of Angelo Ellul and Josephine Ellul nee Farrugia, born in Tripoli, Libya, resided in San Pawl il-Bahar, Malta and died in Imsida, Malta on the 5th September 2022 aged 87 and who held identity card number 600000P. Wherefore, any person who believes to have an interest in the matter is hereby called upon to appear before the said Court and to bring forward his objections hereto by a minute to be filed within fifteen days from the posting of the banns and notices according to law. Registry of the Civil Court, Voluntary Jurisdiction Section. Today 17th March, 2023. ALEXANDRA DEBATTISTA For the Registrar, Civil Court and Tribunals. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Gafà was asked about the claims of a cover-up made by Repubblika President Robert Aquilina in his book, Pilatus: A Laundromat Bank in Europe. Aquilina quoted an unnamed source saying that former bank officials Antoniella Gauci and her subaltern Mehmet Tasli were not charged because the former's relatives were legal clients of the Prime Minister in the past. The author also published in- ternal police emails in which the nolle prosequi for Gauci and Tasli are discussed. Gauci and Tasli were granted a nolle prosequi by the Attor- ney General despite a magis- trate recommending that they be charged along with several other Pilatus officials. The police spokesperson in- sisted the emails referred to in the media were exhibited by the police themselves during one of the judicial processes in which Aquilina is challenging the At- torney General's decision to grant a nolle prosequi. Police eventually charged the bank and money laundering reporting officer Claudanne Sant-Fournier. The case against the two is ongoing and they de- ny the charges. Police have also issued inter- national arrest warrants for other Pilatus Bank foreign of- ficials indicated by the magis- trate, including its owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad. Asked what is the state of the international arrest warrants, the police spokesperson replied: "You may even appreciate that any International/European Arrest warrants are executed in cooperation with foreign police counterparts." A motorcyclist was seriously in- jured in a traffic accident in San- ta Venera on Tuesday evening. The accident occurred at 7:45am in the southbound lanes of the Santa Venera tunnels. Police said that a collision had occurred between a Honda CRF motorcycle driven by the 25-year-old victim from Siġġie- wi, a Ford Transit driven by a 60-year-old Żebbuġ resident, and a Citroen C3 driven by an Italian 31-year-old from Ħal Lija. All drivers, including the vic- tim, were men. With impact, another car, a Toyota Passo also suffered dam- ages. The 25-year-old was taken to Mater Dei Hospital for further treatment, where it was later cer- tified he was suffering from seri- ous injuries. A police investigation is under- way. Motorcyclist seriously injured in Regional Road tunnels accident A motorcyclist, 25, suffered serious injuries after a collision with two other cars Repubblika President Robert Aquilina claimed a cover-up in his book, Pilatus: A Laundromat Bank in Europe Book claims proximity to prime minister saved official from prosecution