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YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Newspaper post maltatoday SUNDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2014 • ISSUE 744 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.20 Download the MaltaToday App now FRANCO DEBONO INTERVIEWED PGS 12-13 Full story and photos of the 'crime scene' PAGE 5 Borg Olivier's 'no' to Gonzi's 'morality police' Police at pains to find suitable charge for Mosta 'cat killer' FINDING a suitable charge for a perpetrator of the stunts that involved crucified cats and dogs, is going to be problematic for the Maltese police force this news- paper has been told. Now dealing with the 10th cru- cifixion, the Mosta 'cat killer' case may well become a head- ache for the police force, as the story turns into a media sensa- tion befitting a small island. Police sources have told Malta- Today that even if the perpetrator is caught, it would prove tricky to prove that he or she killed the cats and dogs or tortured them prior to their crucifixion, and in that way opening them up to a charge of animal cruelty. "We would have to confirm that the person committed a cruel act on the animals. That will be very difficult to prove," the police said. They did however confirm that the perpetrator could be pros- ecuted for vilification of religion, a criminal offence in Malta, be- cause of the use of an inverted crucifix and the defacement of a place of worship. The jury is out on the motives spurring the regular appoint- ments for the cat killer. The first crucifixion took pace on 16 Oc- tober 2011, with all other cases usually taking place on the 16th of the month - save for the 10 February 2012.z PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MANGION Prankster, trouble-maker, or a twisted mind? Police baffl ed over what would constitute suitable charge for 'cat killer' Borg Olivier's 'no' to Gonzi's 'morality police' Cabinet papers from the 1960s released to the National Archives reveal letter from the Archbishop Michael Gonzi to Prime Minister George Borg Olivier asking him to police 'excessive hugging' and scanty bikinis on Maltese beaches THEY were dubbed the 'Swinging Sixties'. But Malta was left untouched by the youth riots and anti-war protests of the late 1960s that took Europe and the United States by storm. Instead, the newly-independent nation had to deal with an unlikely request by Archbishop Michael Gonzi to have the Maltese police keep their eyes peeled for youths dis- playing excessive shows of affection, and even clamp down on scantily-clad women on beaches. Cabinet papers released for the first time ever reveal the kind of requests that George Borg Olivier's National- ist cabinet had to deal with in the 1960s, where the Cold War shrouded international relations, where the Catholic Church in Malta still retained an immeasurable degree of influence, and when the Maltese economy was trying to find a sound footing after decades of dependence on the British colonial military fortress. James Debono has collected the latest revelations from Malta's 1960s governments in his three-page feature on pages 14, 15, and 16. Eurovision • Watch out Copenhagen! The Maltese are coming Firelight win Malta Eurovision Song Contest with folk-pop ballad 'Coming Home' REPORT by Teodor Reljic and Chucky Bartolo on PAGE 3