Peter Kok, whose wife Anna was stabbed to death in 1997, has been having sleepless nights since appeals were made to grant prisoners an amnesty to mark Malta's entry into the EU.
"I was very angry when I heard talk of an amnesty. It keeps me awake at night. I know I have to accept that my wife's murderer is coming out of prison one day but I cannot accept the granting of an amnesty to reduce his sentence further," he said.
The debate over granting an amnesty was first put forward by the organisation Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl earlier this month and backed by another appeal by television presenter Peppi Azzopardi.
This led to letters from people who were for or against an amnesty, with Labour MP Adrian Vassallo speaking out against it in parliament last week.
The most recent amnesty granted to prisoners was in 1999 to mark the new millennium.
The government has so far stopped short of committing itself on the subject and it does not seem that a decision has yet been taken.
But even the mere discussion of granting an amnesty sends shivers down Mr Kok's spine and he shudders to think that he could be facing his wife's murderer earlier than he thought - just because Malta is joining the EU.
Sipping freshly brewed black coffee on his boat moored at the Gzira marina, 58-year-old Mr Kok recounts the day when he received a phone call on the morning of March 20, 1997 telling him to go to hospital because his wife had been stabbed.
"I was renewing my licence at the time. I rushed to hospital but Anna was unconscious after she had been stabbed by her brother-in-law, Salvu Gauci," he said.
She never gained consciousness and died 13 days later from the stab wounds in her thigh and right knee. Her attacker was jailed for 20 years in July 2001 for her murder.
"The hardest part is that I never got to say goodbye," he said staring down at his mug.
The day Anna, 44, was stabbed in Villambrosa Street, Hamrun, she was on her way to a lawyer to obtain a restraining order for the man who would eventually kill her.
"Salvu obviously didn't take too kindly to my wife's support towards her sister Rose. He felt she was interfering in his family matters so he stabbed her," he recalled.
When she died, Mr Kok's life came completely apart and his dreams of a happy early retirement with his wife and two children, Tina and Jan Peter, were shattered.
"Anna and I had been married for 25 years and it was a happy marriage. We moved back to Malta to settle down and retire but two years later that dream was over," he said.
"My daughter, who was 15 at the time of the murder, was extremely close to her mother and the trauma was too hard to handle. She eventually left home when she turned 18 and we have sadly drifted apart.
"After the murder I also took the decision to send my son to college in Holland to get him away from it all. It was hard for him to accept that his favourite uncle had murdered his mum," he said.
The warm, loving home he had shared with his family is now cold and empty so he prefers to spend as much time as possible on his boat.
"My family came completely apart after the murder and I have nothing left. I spend most of my time on the boat and I have made a lot of friends here which keeps my mind occupied," Mr Kok said.
Though he has managed to pick up the pieces and move on, the pain and hurt of his wife's senseless murder has resurfaced with the numerous appeals for an amnesty.
"I know nothing will bring my wife back but the longer her murderer stays in prison, our life will be that little bit easier."