Former investigator says court ruling will not help catch culprit

A former police officer who had investigated the murder of Karin Grech, killed by a letter bomb 33 years ago, believes a recent court declaration that the motive was medico-political will not help catch the culprit.

However, her father, Edwin Grech, the target of the explosive device, firmly believes the ruling will help solve his daughter’s murder by putting pressure on the police.

“The medico-political motive was always a main line of investigation, at least as far as I was concerned, so I can’t see how the court declaration will help solve the case,” the former investigator, Charles Demicoli said.

The investigations into the young girl’s murder – she was 15 at the time – are still open and Police Commissioner John Rizzo described them as “active”.

Prof. Grech is clinging to the conviction that this daughter’s cruel death can be solved. “For me this is more valuable than the sum of money I was granted as compensation... It puts more pressure on the police because the authorities did not accept the motive,” he said.

He confirmed he was in the process of asking the UK government to help solve his daughter’s case. “Karin was a British national and they have a duty to help,” he said.

The Constitutional Court, in appeal proceedings, last week confirmed a judgment in which Prof. Grech and his family were awarded €420,000 in damages for the fatal bombing.

The court also confirmed the motive behind the crime as being Prof. Grech’s services to the government during a politically sensitive period, the conclusion reached by the first court and which the government appealed.

In August 1977, Prof. Grech was working as an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant in the UK when doctors in Malta were taking industrial action following disagreement between the government and the Medical Association of Malta. A main bone of contention was a two-year housemanship imposed on new doctors before getting their warrant. Medical strikes followed and the Labour government retaliated by locking strikers out of hospital. The medical course was also affected and students were forced to study abroad.

The Labour government had asked Prof. Grech to return to Malta to head the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at St Luke’s Hospital. He agreed to do so for the duration of the industrial dispute in the best interest of patients. As a result he was labelled a strike-breaker.

On December 28, 1977, a parcel was delivered to his home. His daughter, in Malta from the UK for the Christmas holidays, opened the large brown envelope that contained a pen-box shaped parcel in Christmas wrapping. It exploded in her hands.

A similar explosive device was sent to the house of then Labour MP Paul Chetcuti Caruana, also a doctor, but it did not explode.

Mr Demicoli recalls: “When I was involved in the investigations we concentrated a lot on the medico-political motive: Karin’s father and Dr Chetcuti Caruana were the two main pillars of the effort of the government against the strike. Dr Chetcuti Caruana was the person who spoke in Parliament against doctors.”

In fact, in a speech in Parliament on December 20, 1977, he had lashed out at members of the medical association and accused them of not having a conscience.

Mr Demicoli, who retired from the police corps in 1981, personally believes the crime was committed by a doctor who would have had to study abroad. He believes the perpetrator acted alone but he never identified a specific suspect.

“The bomb was very simple and medical students had access to such chemicals... My wish is that this case is solved. I saw that girl dying and will never forget what I saw. In such cases, more often than not, a person would have acted alone... so if he, or someone who saw something, does not speak up it is difficult for the case to be solved,” Mr Demicoli said, adding: “But cases have been solved even after 20 years.”

The newspaper Illum reported last Sunday the police were following a new line of investigation after being told that medical students at the time had discussed actions in meetings they held in the office of a prominent lawyer.

Mr Demicoli said he had never heard of such meetings.

When contacted, Mr Rizzo confirmed the investigations were still active, and, as with all such investigations, some information was received occasionally. However, he would not confirm or deny the media reports.

Prof. Grech said he had not heard of this new line of investigations.