Father of furnace victim fears for his own safety

More than four months after his owner was murdered, Rocky still waits behind the door for him to arrive.

The light brown dog goes to sniff around his owner's bedroom and once "got overly excited" when he saw a photo of Gaetano Romano, who was found dead by his father, Nicola, a day after his 20th birthday.

"Rocky is always waiting for Gaetano. It breaks my heart to see this," the 67-year-old Sicilian said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

On April 2, Mr Romano discovered the badly charred body of his son in the gypsum furnace of his workshop, round the corner from his Buġibba house. It was later discovered that nails had been hammered into the young man's head.

The tragedy took another twist on Sunday when Mr Romano found that a photo of his son, which had been placed on the workshop's garage door, had been removed. Instead, propped against the door, were two large springs. He phoned the police, who took the springs for inspection.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Romano said he was now putting in CCTV cameras to protect himself and his property. Eight months before his son was murdered, their pet - another dog also called Rocky - had been killed. The dog was found rolled in a carpet in a nearby field and the family had even received photos of their dead pet.

"First the dog, then Gaetano. Now who's next?" a devastated Mr Romano asked. He insisted he wanted justice and whoever killed his son had to be caught.

Mr Romano believes he knows who killed his son. He had already divulged that he found a letter from his son saying he feared for his life and revealing the name of the man he was afraid of, someone who according to Mr Romano was close to the family.

Mr Romano said his son had written that if something happened to him, "you know whom to look for - you don't have far to look". "I would put my hands on fire it is him," he said yesterday, referring to the person mentioned in the letter.

Mr Romano said he never confronted this person but had given the name to the police.

Investigations are ongoing.