The immediate protection of domestic violence victims can be tackled by amending the law so that their reports can be treated as urgent cases, according to Police Commissioner John Rizzo.

Once a victim filed a report, the police processed it but they could not treat the case as urgent and arraign the alleged perpetrator under arrest unless the legal criteria for urgency were fulfilled, he explained.

The criteria included the possibility of a perpetrator injuring himself or someone else or damaging property or when the police had reasonable grounds to believe arrest was necessary to protect a vulnerable person.

Such criteria applied to all police reports filed and were not limited to domestic violence.

Mr Rizzo said one had to realise many reports were filed at police stations and the police had to use their judgment in terms of what was a reasonable threat.

The manner in which the police handled reports of domestic violence was put into question last week during a silent demonstration in Valletta where the authorities were urged to take immediate action to protect victims.

The issue was highlighted by the tragic case of 40-year-old Christina Sammut who was shot dead four weeks after she filed a report at the Rabat police station claiming her former partner had chased her with a knife. Soon after the shooting, on December 11, her ex-partner, Kenneth Gafà, turned himself in to the police.

After Mrs Sammut’s murder, Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre pointed out that domestic violence reports should be treated with more urgency by the police, who often processed them as district court sittings heard months after the complaint was lodged.

When a report is filed, the police have two options to prosecute. In serious urgent cases, they can arrest the alleged perpetrator and take him/her to court within 48 hours. In less serious cases, the perpetrator is served with a summons and told to turn up in court. It can take months for the case to start.

The police have also been criticised for not being sensitive enough when dealing with domestic violence reports. But, when contacted, Mr Rizzo said officers who worked in police stations were trained to deal with domestic violence. Training was carried out at the Police Academy and refresher courses were held.

He stressed that, once a victim filed a report, the police filed the summons in court. It was then up to the court to appoint the case to be heard.

“Perhaps it is time to review the system to amend the law that regulates how urgently such cases are treated by the Family Court,” Mr Rizzo said.

Having said that, he added, each case had to he tackled on its own merit as his experience had taught him urgency was not necessarily the best option.

There were examples of one-off domestic violence reports filed by someone in the heat of an argument with a partner. In such cases, he said, the couple could solve their issues if given the time.

In the case of Mrs Sammut’s murder, Mr Rizzo said the police had always acted on her reports. “As far as I know, the police always took action. Whenever she wanted to pursue the case in court, we arraigned and whenever she asked us to issue a warning we issued a warning...

“The police always act in the interest of victims and take action according to their wishes,” he said, adding this was a very sensitive matter.

A recent study on the prevalence of domestic violence in Malta showed that one in four women were physically, emotionally or sexually abused by their husband or partner. Emotional abuse emerged as the most prevalent followed by physical and sexual abuse.

The survey also showed that 11 per cent had contemplated suicide and some actually tried to end their lives.

More than half of the abused women never sought help. Of those who did, about a quarter went to the police.