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11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 OCTOBER 2026 NEWS WITH SAVIOUR BALZAN THURSDAY AT 10.15PM ON TVM Current partners most common killers in femicide cases A current partner killed 24 of the 55 women identified as victims of femicide in Malta between Janu- ary 1970 and September 2026, according to the Malta Observa- tory on Femicide. In 13 cases, the victims were murdered by an ex-partner, the data shows. "Most killings occurred in a private residence," researchers at the observatory said. "Nearly half of all victims (27 cases) were killed in their own home, while a further 17 were killed elsewhere outdoors and others in another house or the perpetrator's home." A sharp instrument was used in 24 of the killings (44%). Stran- gulation or asphyxia accounted for 11 (20%) and a firearm for 10 (18%). The 55 victims were killed by 61 perpetrators. "The overwhelm- ing majority of perpetrators were male (93%)," the researchers said. An unofficial count The figures are not official sta- tistics. Malta has no national da- taset on femicide, and the obser- vatory compiles its count from public sources. "Given the absence of a dedi- cated official national dataset on femicide, information is primari- ly compiled from publicly availa- ble sources, including newspaper reports, court proceedings, and other forms of grey literature," the researchers told MaltaToday. Nonetheless, these figures pro- vide valuable insights into re- curring characteristics of these crimes. Observatory member Emily Victoria Galea said the obser- vatory defines femicide as "the killing of a woman because she is a woman, including trans per- sons". What the data cannot show Observatory member Christine Marchand Agius said nine vic- tims experienced prior violence or threats and were known to police, while four were known to support services. One victim had a protection order in place. There were 10 cases of prior domestic violence by the same perpetrator and seven of prior stalking. "These figures should be con- sidered an undercount rather than a definitive measure," she said. The absence of information in the available sources "does not necessarily mean that no prior abuse, reporting, or safeguarding measures existed". Marchand Agius said partner killings were not the only form of femicide. There were four killings in the context of robbery and one in the context of sexual violence. Three cases involved murders by family members. Nine primary victims survived, she said, and attempted killings are "likely underrepresented in the dataset". Femicide law It was following the brutal murder and rape of 29-year-old Paulina Dembska on 2 January 2022 by an assailant in Sliema that Malta introduced femicide as an aggravating circumstance in its Criminal Code. The first person to be charged under the new femicide law was Roderick Cassar, 43, who shot his ex-wife, Bernice, at point blank range as she drove to work in Corradino. The murder hap- pened on 22 November 2022. She had filed several police re- ports against her former hus- band, including one the day be- fore she was murdered. Cassar eventually pleaded guilty to the murder and was jailed for 40 years. Meanwhile, criminal proceedings against Dembska's murderer are still ongoing. JULIANA ZAMMIT jzammit@mediatoday.com.mt Polish student Paulina Dembska's horrific murder in January 2022 led to the inclusion of femicide as a crime in Malta's legal regime