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Friday, December 30, 2011 by

Claudia Calleja

The bomber who killed Karin Grech ‘was a loner’

Edwin Grech, whose daughter, Karin, was killed by a letter bomb in 1977, suggested yesterday that there was a group of people behind the heinous crime.

Speaking on Net TV’s Evidenza last night, Prof Grech, who was the real target of the letter bomb, said he had information that the explosive device had been planned by fourth- and fifth-year medical students who hired a criminal to make the bomb that was delivered by a carpenter with missing fingers.

If substantiated, the theory would break new ground in the yet unsolved murder of the teenager who had opened the small parcel addressed to her father thinking it was a gift having been just three days after Christmas.

When approached with the information communicated by Prof. Grech – the programme is recorded – former police officer Charles Demicoli, who had investigated the case for several years, said he believed the murder was the work of one person. The main reason why the crime had not been solved, he added, was because that person never spoke up.

“I think it was done by one of the students. I think he did it alone, all by himself and that’s why it hasn’t come out. If there were... (more people in-volved), as the professor is saying, somebody would have spoken up by now. Some crimes are solved because people talk and, in this case, nobody ever spoke,” Mr Demicoli said, echoing a theory that has been repeated over the years.

During the programme, hosted by journalist Dione Borg, Prof. Grech said had been told that the plan – aimed at him – had been concocted by a number of medical students. They then hired a criminal bomb expert and the explosive device was delivered by a carpenter with missing fingers.

The detail about the missing fingers is significant because forensic tests had only turned up very faint finger prints.

Prof. Grech said he had communicated all this to the police who could verify the information with a person he pointed out to them and who was present when he was given the information.

He said he was also informed that when the Medical School was closed down (at the time, doctors employed by the government were on strike and Prof. Grech had come from abroad to assist in the national health service) a lawyer who was involved in politics offered his office to medical students to use as a meeting place. The lawyer was not aware what was being discussed, Prof. Grech added.

During the programme he said he had little hope the case would be solved and felt abandoned by the police. He spoke of a “hidden hand holding information”, insisting that the case had not been solved due to political interference.

Although Mr Demicoli, who retired from the police force in 1981, did not have a particular suspect in mind, he said that during investigations he had searched the houses of various students.

“They had the know-how to make a bomb... I went into their houses... and in certain places I found workshops where you could produce anything of the sort,” he recalled.

The students were never interviewed because when investigations started they had left Malta to continue their studies abroad because the Medical School was closed as a consequence of the doctors’ strike.“This is just my suspicion. It does not necessarily mean that it is correct but I believe it was only one person who did it,” he insisted. Testifying in 2008, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino, who is now handling the case, said the investigation was concentrated on a group of people who were final-year medical students at the time of the incident.

In a statement yesterday, the police said “all information that came to the knowledge of the police in this case, including the information referred to by Prof. Grech himself, has been thoroughly investigated”.

The trail of death

The case dates back to 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 government 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 small, pen-box shaped parcel in Christmas wrapping. It exploded in her hands.

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P Bonnici

Jan 6th, 00:10

Unfortunately the destruction of DNA and fingerprints of innocent people does not happen in the UK, they are stored.

I am sure they would have been abused by the so called police during the MIntoff-KMB reign.

James Tyrrell

Jan 2nd, 20:23

Of course the opinion wasn't challenged since it was nothing more than an opinion!

As for your insistence that the taking of fingerprints for elimination purposes is wrong I dread to think how you would react if asked for your DNA! The refusal to provide fingerprints for 34 years points to fear on the part of someone or some group. I hope that whoever he, she or they are rot in hell for their crime.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 3rd, 18:30

@ James Tyrrell (2 Jan 2012 at 20:23.


"Of course the opinion wasn't challenged since it was nothing more than an opinion!" (james |Tyrrell)

That "opinion" was not challenged because by the forensic experts on the "Evidenza" panel because thay agreed with it!

James Tyrrell

Jan 2nd, 13:58

I'm struggling to understand what exactly your interest is in this case other than to see your own words in print. But, whatever turns you on as they say. It seems to me that a lot of people are trying very hard to prevent the truth from coming out here and I can't understand why anyone would want to protect the low lives who murdered a child.

It is not for me to induce any forensic expert to speak out about the case. The point is you are the one who raised the matter not me when you stated, 'It is the forensic experts' opinion that Karen's murderer was a loner acting on his own.' So perhaps you can back this up with something other than your own opinion.

As for Demicoli whether or not he was leading the investigation is irrelevant, he was involved in it, and he was the one giving the opinion that it was a doctor acting on his own who carried out the bombing, not some forensic expert as you state.

So if you were suspected of murder and were completely innocent you would not be interested in clearing your name by providing your fingerprints. That's interesting and as we know is a stance taken by 119 doctors to this day. If they are all so innocent what are they afraid of? Also you talk of illegally retained fingerprints belonging to Inspector Charles Demicoli. Did Charles Demicoli accuse the police of retaining his fingerprints illegally or is this another of your 'expert opinions'? I served in the police myself and my fingerprints were on file during my service. This was and to the best of my knowledge still is normal procedure and they certainly were not retained illegally.

The only important thing is that the stinking scum who carried out this murder are brought to justice and spend the rest of their lives in a prison cell where they belong. No wonder there are calls for reform of the legal system in Malta when a senior police officer can state that a murder case dating back 34 years is 'active.'

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 31st 2011, 18:37

@ Victor Laiviera.

It is public knowledge that it was Dr Paul Chetcuti Caruana in person who leaked out that story prominently during the recent two-episode "Evidenza" programme appearing on NET TV.

Are you so absolutely shameless as to insinuate that I am "making up" that story in a matter that is so easily verifiable?

Victor Laiviera

Dec 31st 2011, 21:58

@ Francis Saliba

You must have been the only one who heard it. I certainly did not, and I watched most of both programs. Neither has anyone I asked.

Such an extraordinary allegation would have been splashed across the front pages of most papers - but it is nowhere to be seen.

Are you sure you are not "adjusting" some remark he may have made?

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 1st, 11:09

@ Victor Laiviera (31 Dec 2011 at 21:58)

No! Mr Laiviera. I was not the only one to see and to hear Dr Paul Chetcuti Caruana. If I had made up that story Dr Paul Chetcuti Caruana hinself, Professor Edwin Grech and his wife Pearl would not have remained silent but they would have taken me to court. THEY DON'T only because they know that that truth cannot be denied on the stupid pretext that a certain Laiviera "did not hear it"!

In my eyes you have established a shameful reputation to see only what you choose to see, to hear only what you want to hear, to remember only what you want to remember and to understand only that which you want to understand in your usual distorted version.

Have you no shame left? Please excuse me. I have no more time left to waste on the likes of you.

Victor Laiviera

Jan 1st, 22:00

I can only repeat what I said in my first comment

- I watched most of both programs and I did not hear anything like that;

- Nobody I spoke to, and who watched the programs, heard it;

- It has not appeared on any media - PN, PL, Independent, print or online.

Victor Laiviera

Jan 1st, 00:29

"The “PN in opposition” did not try to destabilize the MLP government ..."

What about the time Eddie Fenech Adami used to go abroad and urge industrialist not to inmvest in Malta? This is a matter of public record.

Jason Pisani

Jan 18th, 02:03

Dear Mr, Saliba M.D. in most of your comments you are attacking the so called corrupt MLP police. Apparently you forgot The PN Police "Tal-Jakketta Blue"..

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Dec 31st 2011, 12:48

@FS

1) I asked you specifically to "confirm that you are stating fact, can you please PROVIDE us with 100% proof that MLP was the hidden hand suppressing the truth and preventing the murder being solved."

2) you chose to respond that your are "stating facts and one does not have to be very wise to realise it."

and then you come back with:

3) "The nearest to a 100% proof lies in the fact that it was Mrs Pearl Grech, the mother of the victim Karen Grech, who actually pointed her finger at an MLP doctor member of parliament as the murderer of her daughter."

Is that it??!

Is that your 100% proof/fact that would be taken SERIOUSLY in a court of law?
Never mind court, you will surely not be taken seriously in a public forum as this when you choose to write such statements, I'm sure.

You claim to be a former Police forensic doctor correct?
Surely you should know better than claiming your new 'suggestion' that (M)LP had the hidden agenda/hidden hand is credible based on the above 'nearly 100% proof (sic!).

Please come up with an ACTUAL 100% FACT to back your claim or else I suggest that you stop making a fool of yourself and stop causing more unnecessary pain to the Grech family.

I'm sure that ALL of the readers (but you of course!) would agree that what you state is NOT 100% proof or FACT but merely (like I suggested) another attempt of yours to provide us with another of :
- either "one of your fantastic theories/insinuations, " (you remember the 'other one that you SHAMEFULLY put forward in other blogs that is simply too painful to repeat here but no threat of yours will stop me reminding you of!! SHAME SHAME SHAME again , I say!)

-or " is this to be taken as just one of your typical attempts to blame everything bad on the (M)LP

And judging by your other writings this is the more likely scenario of the three, I suggest.

If however you keep insisting that this is your indelible FACT that you can come up with that:

"Only a powerful MLP hidden hand could have suppressed the information so successfully for such a long time during which the MLP held the reins of power."

then I can only conclude (yet again) that they were 100% right to board you out (or whatever you claim to have happened to you) "in the interest of the public" from being a Police Forensic "Doctor".

(By the way, were you EVER reinstated by your beloved party.. or did they too think it better uphold the "in the interest of the general public" bit?)

I will not entertain you with more tit-for-tat that you seem to be seeking in your (more) despicable writing. I will conclude by saying that yet again your FACT are no FACT at all.

If you wish to carry on with your single minded attack on Labour, please choose a more suitable forum than this were you are only causing unnecessary red herrings and not letting people focus on the real issue.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 31st 2011, 17:47

@ Ivan Grech Mintoff.

I have had enough of your questions which you continue to rephrase and to resubmit pretending that I had not answered them, or that you did not understand my replies. I will no longer contend against that real or feigned ignorance because even the gods are reputed to give up the attempt!

Jonathan Zammit Lapira

Dec 31st 2011, 10:26

You do not surprise me with your writings/opinions as you ALWAYS defend what the PN does and shoot down (or bombard??) what the MLP has done and what the PL is doing now!!!!
It was a political murder under the MLP government, hence how could the MLP police destruct evidence????
Better if you say that most of those police officers during that period, had been promoted by the PN government and/or given high ranks in the PN like for example the "Gakketta Blu" brigade who were introduced in the 1981 general elections. If you are a human being, let off your political passion for once and say that someone is still hiding evidence from Karin's parents and us Maltese citizens.

James Tyrrell

Dec 31st 2011, 14:01

You say that you are 'defending the scores of innocent medical students who have been negligently, or intentionally, kept under a cloud of suspicion for many years.' How can you state that these scores of medical students are innocent? The vast majority of them have never been as much as fingerprinted over the past 34 years yet you declare that they are innocent? As a matter of interest were you one of those students?

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 31st 2011, 18:20

@ James Tyrell (31 Dec at 14:01)

Elementary Mr Tyrell! Allow me to spoon feed you.

It is the forensic experts' opinion that Karen's murderer was a loner acting on his own. Even if - FOR ARGUMENT'S SAKE ONLY - that solitary murderer was a student, there would still be scores of innocent students and doctors who are intentionally, or negligently, being kept under a cloud of suspicion by the MLP false propaganda machine.

No! Mr Tyrell. At the time of Karen's murder I was not a medical student and neither was I a doctor involved in the lock out of doctors by Mintoff. For years previously I had been forced to retire compulsorily "on grounds of public interest" because in Mintoff's eyes I did not fit in with the MLP concept of a politicised police force acting in unison with the state-sponsored political thuggery as dictated by the MLP!

I was an old style police doctor who believed that the police force existed to maintain law and order, and to enforce laws without fear or favour. That was heretical in the eyes of the MLP under Mintoff and KMB.

James Tyrrell

Jan 1st, 15:08

Oh I can assure you I am well past spoon feeding. You say, 'It is the forensic experts' opinion that Karen's murderer was a loner acting on his own.' I thought this was the opinion of the police officer leading the investigation at the time who could hardly be described as a forensic expert. As regards the cloud of suspicion that these poor students were under at the time and indeed still are, if you were one of these people wouldn't you be doing everything in your power to clear your name? Or would you prefer to sit back and allow people to think you may be a murderer and put all the blame on this 'MLP false propaganda machine' that you talk about?

Joseph A Borg

Dec 31st 2011, 09:48

It's difficult to fathom today. We have easy access to a lot of information, including how to build pipe bombs and such thanks to the internet and google. Before this revolution, it was subversive elements in political parties and secret services disseminating the technology. I'm sure such information was readily available to veteran soldiers, especially sappers and special forces. Maybe the police should look into the political ties of the students and their travel abroad in the years prior, but I suspect they don't want to step on bigger toes.

Don't forget that western europe and the mediterranean were also part of the cold war. The CIA and the KGB used any means possible to influence public policy and gain useful secrets. A good example would be the killing of the German Banker by the red brigades [1] most probably to stall Gorbachev's talks with european governments when the USSR was crumbling under immense debts.

The CIA had organised rightwing underground groups to create mayhem (terrorise the population and take over government by force) in any country that turned communist. [2] They had widely disseminated pamphlets on acts of sabotage, from bomb making to destruction of infrastructure (basically a sapper's guide). The biggest failure in Europe was the greek generals taking over the country a couple of decades ago. [3]

Incidentally the last link is of a group (started by catholic clergy go figure!) to protest the US military school that actually trained south american dictators and their henchmen, most of whom are now indicted by the ICC. [4]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction#The_RAF_since_the_1980s

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

[3] http://soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/soa-manuals

[4] http://soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/soawhinsec-grads/notorious-grads

* a wise consumer of media should always read critically and only support liberal, reasoned debate. When journalists and politicians start whipping up fear as an excuse to curtail personal liberties then it's time to ignore them and vote them out of office. When a public figure gets pilloried and hunted by the media, then read what they are really saying because most probably they are stepping on some big and powerful toes. Welcome to post 1984!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 31st 2011, 08:48

@ Joseph Magro

It is much more convenient for the LP propaganda machine NOT to clear the many innocent and maligned medical students by examining their fingerprints but to keep them indefinitely under a cloud of suspicion.

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Dec 30th 2011, 20:26

@FS

Ok.. I'm engaging my brain into gear as you suggest.

Since my question asked you specifically if you state as FACT that " Only a powerful MLP hidden hand could have suppressed the information so successfully for such a long time during which the MLP held the reins of power."

and you confirm that you are stating fact, can you please PROVIDE us with 100% proof that MLP was the hidden hand suppressing the truth and preventing the murder being solved.

I'll now disengage my brain until we receive your FACTUAL reply.

Mario Grima

Dec 30th 2011, 23:31

So dear Dr. Holmes by your own deduction another 'hidden hand' was also successful where it concerned the brutal murder of Raymond Caruana. It is also a solid fact that, for over a decade after this murder, it was the PN that ruled the roost. But contrary to what your mind is assuming, I do not think that solving that murder would have been detrimental to the PN at that time.

Give us a break and comment on what you know best and do not try to fomenate hatred.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 30th 2011, 23:44

@ Ivan Grech Mintoff.

My replies are "factual" with conclusions legitimately deductable from those observed facts.

The nearest to a 100% proof lies in the fact that it was Mrs Pearl Grech, the mother of the victim Karen Grech, who actually pointed her finger at an MLP doctor member of parliament as the murderer of her daughter. This was revealed by the doctor himself - and he was not a member of MAM involved in the lock out of doctors.

robert pace

Dec 31st 2011, 07:34

very funny Mr Saliba with the same theory after the PN got to power we never got any more of this brutal crap did we? It does say something maybe you can understand better?

Victor Laiviera

Dec 31st 2011, 09:47

@ Dr Francs Saliba

You said "Mrs Pearl Grech, the mother of the victim Karen Grech, who actually pointed her finger at an MLP doctor member of parliament as the murderer of her daughter"

I have followed this case ever since it happened. This is the first time I have ever heard this astounding allegation. Can you provide some indication when and where this was said?

Because, to be quite frank, I think you are making it up.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 31st 2011, 10:32

@ Victor Laiviera.

Dr Paul Chetcuti Caruana himself openly declared on the TV broadcast "Evidenza" that Mrs Pearl Grech had pointed her finger at him accusing him of murdering her daughter Karen.

Ask anyone who watched that prgramme and they would vonfirm that I am not making anything up, as you unjustly accuse me. For a person so ubiquitous in the defence of the political violence during the Mintoff-KMB era you are exposing yourself as singularly ill-informed person.

Joseph N. Attard

Dec 30th 2011, 20:55

Mr Gellel, it is obvious that you do not know Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami well. He is the epitome of upright and honest gentlemen, and you may rest assured that if he could have solved the murder in his time as Prime Minister, he would have done so without any respect for whatever the consequences. Remember, there are many crimes, not only in Malta, but all over the world, the author of which is known with near absolute certainty, but the necessary degree of legal proof is lacking.

Peter Agius

Dec 30th 2011, 21:37

He never said he knew....... He said that he would make his utmost to find out who the perpetrator was. And he did. Police officers were sent to Australia to investigate the case, in his tenure.

Ms.D. Galea

Dec 31st 2011, 00:21

Carpenters are not the only people walking around with missing fingers. People who come in contact with explosives often end up with missing fingers.

I was surprised that in yesterday's program, the resident forensic expert failed to mention this well-known fact to enlighten viewers.

Is it possible that at no time during these last 34 years, no forensic expert saw fit to demand finger/ palm prints of persons with missing fingers who worked in certain trades?

Ivan M. Dingli

Dec 30th 2011, 19:41

Dr. Magro

If you are so upset by Prof. Grech's comments, why don't you volunteer for any DNA testing which might be required? Upset by a comment is one thing..... losing your daughter to such a cowardly act is another. Albeit, this is just my opinion.

Tony Borg

Dec 30th 2011, 19:45

why don't you volunteer and go to the police and give them your finger and palm print? you should also invite your colleagues to do the same and to take an affidavit that these meeting never took place. like this you will be clearing your names.

Ray Spiteri

Dec 30th 2011, 20:02

"I for myself had no knowledge of such events" ..............meetings with said lawyer. How about the other colleagues. According to Prof Grech none of the medical students had their fingerprints taken. Rest in peace Karen. We are all deeply upset that Prof Grech lost his daughter Karen. I am sure Prof Grech would have prefered to sacrifice her teenage years in the UK studying then being murdered in such a manner.

James Tyrrell

Dec 30th 2011, 19:56

In the case of the one you were referring to that exploded 35,000 ft up in the sky it's easy to solve when you use a scapegoat. I agree however that this should have been solved very quickly and probably would have been without any interference.

Peter Agius

Dec 30th 2011, 21:40

The interference you are mentioning happened between 1977 and 1987

Anthony Busuttil

Dec 30th 2011, 18:15

Giovanni what you are saying is true but who was investigating the case, a fan of Sherlock Homes

Victor Laiviera

Dec 30th 2011, 18:33

We learned yesterday that the police officer investigating the assassination of Karin Grech was Mr Charles Demicoli, of Blue Jacket fame.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 30th 2011, 18:43

Professor Edwin Grech has expressed himself that there was "some hidden hand holding information" about the henous murder of his daughter. Since the MLP remained in power for a decade after that murder the most obvious suggestion would be that any suppressed information was detrimental to the MLP cause. Only a powerful MLP hidden hand could have suppressed the information so successfully for such a long time during which the MLP held the reins of power.

Angus Black

Dec 30th 2011, 18:51

Giovanni, since 1977 there were different Justice Ministers of both sides of the political sphere, the case was investigated initially and reviewed at least three times by the Police of pre and post 1987.

So, the 'hidden hand' may not have been politically motivated at all because otherwise one of the two parties in government would have redoubled its efforts to nail the criminal, if for nothing else, to tack it on its adversary. Foreign experts were involved under separate governments, yet no positive identification ensued.

It is therefore safe to assume that the criminal wanted 'to get even' by attacking a strike breaker and a health spokesman in the Labour government at that time. Getting even for not being able to finish his studies in Malta and to practice his profession without first 'serving for two years' at starvation wages.

It was the work of one person, and there are no hidden hands, other than his own.

Mr C Busuttil

Dec 30th 2011, 19:14

@Francis Saliba

familiar connections MLP/PN? maybe freemasons?

whats certain is that Karen Grech was killed and her killers are still on the run. All this because some medical student/s could not hold their political hatred.

PS- Please we had enough of people trying to gain political advantage from cases like this. Stop trying to cast doubts on a powerful mysterious MLP heavy weight who held information. The students involved simply left the country days after the murder and therefore not easy to trace.
They left karin dead and a country full of hatred and revenge, a country which would pay a further price with the innocent blood of Raymond Caruana. Those who killed Karin are morally responsible for that of Caruana as they broke the concept that human life is sacred, they transformed it us against them.

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Dec 30th 2011, 19:17

@FS

> Only a powerful MLP hidden hand could have suppressed the information so successfully for such a long time during which the MLP held the reins of power.

Are you stating a fact (you write it like it is fact), one of your fantastic theories/insinuations, or is this to be taken as just one of your typical attempts to blame everything bad on the (M)LP?

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Dec 30th 2011, 19:22

@ Angus Black

(may I call you Andrew?)

Perhaps this information came out many years AFTER PN took over the government? Wouldn't that mean that only one side of the political field is being blamed here...?


Ivan M. Dingli

Dec 30th 2011, 19:35

@ Francis Saliba M.D.

Same thing with Raymond Caruana's murder, i guess we could also suggest that any information could be detrimental to the PN, correct?

Francis Saliba M.D.

Dec 30th 2011, 23:34

@ Victor Laiviera. (30 Dec at 18:33)

You do not understand because you do not want to understand. Charles Demicoli would be involved as an officer attached to the police district where the crime occurred. The investigation of such a serious crime would soon be assumed by higher police officers in the D.I.K. In this particular case Asst Commissioner of Police Anthony Mifsud Tommasi and Commissioner of Police Lawrence Pullicino were both identified by name.

Mr Tony Gatt

Dec 30th 2011, 16:55

If it were posted, chances are someone licked the stamp on the packet. As the Brits say, there's more than one way to skin a cat!

maria grech ganado

Dec 30th 2011, 15:47

Wonderful comment! I'm afraid a comment I made agreeing with Victor Laiviera was inadvertently posted as an agreement with someone who opposed him. I hope this comment finds its right place. Thank you, Mr Busuttil. As my genuine friends know, I am neither a Nationalist nor a Labourite and though a Green at heart, do not think Alternattiva lives up to their ideals. In fact, I am thoroughly fed up with the whole political scene on this island, which I am beginning to find totally claustrophobic

Stuart Caruana

Dec 30th 2011, 16:59

one of the best comments ever that reflects my opinions and those of many from the younger generation. What would be great if one day people from both sides sat down and wrote a book on the ACTUAL history of the politics in Malta.

Joseph Calleja

Dec 30th 2011, 17:35

Very well told and explained. It is funny how opinions and feelings change when it comes to politics and religion as you grow older, I know mine did. All we knew in those days was Mintoff and Gonzi. These two threw Malta in a spin because of hatred for each other. It was not The MLP against the PN, it was a battle between Mintoff and Archbishop Gonzi and most of us got caught in the middle. This shows how naive and gullible we were at the time. If I knew then what I know now? Hopefully we won't let this to ever happen again.

P Bonnici

Dec 30th 2011, 15:01

The police at that time where just political thugs in uniform, they were mainly recruited for their political affiliation irrespective of their suitability to perform professional police duties. An opportunity was missed to catch this cowardly criminal who perpetrated such heinous crime.

Joseph Calleja

Dec 30th 2011, 15:19

Wenzu, as Mr Grech mentioned and I agree 100%, first of all this act was a political murder by far and secondly it was the incompetency of the Maltese police department at the time. I consider them as the Kestone Kops. And how many men with no fingers lived in Malta at the time? If they had any such suspicions it would have been easy to find such a man. At the time Doctors were treated as slaves of the government. I think that the police at the time did not choose not to pursue this line of investigation, they were forced not to by the powers that be. December 28, 1977 is a long time ago and it is very doubtful this man will ever be caught. If it was a student who made the bomb, that means that there might be a murderer doctor running around loose.. The excuse that the police inspector offers is very weak at best.

James Vella

Dec 30th 2011, 13:21

Just keep on dreaming of your "interesting times" Mr.Laiviera

Mr Tony Gatt

Dec 30th 2011, 13:37

Always a political angle to things in Malta- amazing.

Victor Laiviera

Dec 30th 2011, 13:45

@ Mr Tony Gatt

It was the Maltese Courts - not me - who concluded that the assassination of Karin Grech was politically motivated.

A Gouder

Dec 30th 2011, 14:16

Mr Laviera, you know what is more serious than the 34 years that NET TV chose to ignore the case? Its the ten years after the murder in which Malta was under a Labour Government.

Peter Agius

Dec 30th 2011, 15:05

@Victor Laiviera
The MLP government chose to ignore it between 1977 and 1987, when they had all the means to thoroughly investigate the case.. It smells of a rotten rat, or don't you think so?? The first years are crucial in a murder investigation, and however they did nothing.

maria grech ganado

Dec 30th 2011, 15:12

hear hear - and for some, even dangerous!

maria grech ganado

Dec 30th 2011, 15:38

Dear Victor - I meant my comment 'hear hear' to agree with what YOU said. It has been, inadvertently I'm sure, placed in the wrong place. I agree with you without reservations. Totally! I admire Franco Debono and Frank Portelli. They are of the same metal - as was Lino Spiteri when he stood up to Mr Mintoff, and Alfred Sant, who was then toppled by him

Charles J. Buttigieg

Dec 30th 2011, 13:43

Stupid question Carmel. Who would deliver a letter bomb by hand?

A Mifsud

Dec 30th 2011, 14:24

"was delivered by a carpenter with missing fingers." Before you insult people's intelligence read what Prof Grech was alleging.

Peter Agius

Dec 31st 2011, 14:16

I think Mr.Garcia is right......... the parcel was post delivered. In those days bulky post was not controlled at the post-office. it was afterwards that security measures were introduced.

Giovanni Rizzo

Dec 30th 2011, 13:26

Hekk hu sur Gauci,naqbel mieghek perfettament.

Joseph Calleja

Dec 30th 2011, 16:13

No crime was ever solved by the Keystone Kops! And neither will this one.

R. Gauci

Dec 30th 2011, 12:14

Wara 34 sena mhux semplici sakemm din ma nqerditx b'testijiet ohra. Imbaghad ma min se tqabblu d-DNA? La hemm fingerprints din xorta inutli ghax jekk ikollok suspettat ghandek lilhom biex issallbu anqas haqq il-hussle.

Richard Caruana

Dec 30th 2011, 14:54

And you expect to find a typewriter today? Now they're relics of the past!

The question would better be: was the typing on the envelope investigated during that time, and if not why?

From what I heard in the programme yesterday the investigating officers present were none too complementary about the then chief of police Pullicino.

Tony Borg

Dec 30th 2011, 15:51

@ Richard Carauna

If your read my comment I never said to look for a typewriter (even though this was suggested by the expert investigators on tv yesterday).

What I said is to look for a document which was typed by the same typewriter and which can lead to who typed the address on the envelopes.

Willie Grech

Dec 30th 2011, 11:02

Sur Antoine Vella, nispera li ghadek tiftakar min kien l-Ispettur li nvestiga l-kaz u meta rrizenja lil min kien jirraprezenta.

Nispera li int intelligenti bizzejjed u ma temminx it-teorija li xi gvern ikollu xi interess li joqghod jorganizza u jwerwer lil poplu b'xi attivitajiet kriminali sempliciment biex joqghod iwahhal fl-oppozizzjoni?

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Dec 30th 2011, 12:16

Another shameful & unbelievable post from you, AV.

>he said that during investigations he had searched the houses of various students.

“They had the know-how to make a bomb... I went into their houses... and in certain places I found workshops where you could produce anything of the sort,” he recalled.

The students were never interviewed because when investigations started they had left Malta to continue their studies abroad because the Medical School was closed as a consequence of the doctors’ strike.“This is just my suspicion. It does not necessarily mean that it is correct but I believe it was only one person who did it,” he insisted

and

"Testifying in 2008, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino, who is now handling the case, said the investigation was concentrated on a group of people who were final-year medical students at the time of the incident."

This shows clearly that, contrary to what you declare (without any proof, of course!) the police WERE investigating and trying to do their job.

> He (Profs Grech) spoke of a “hidden hand holding information”, insisting that the case had not been solved due to POLITICAL INTERFERENCE.

As many, many suspect THIS is were the investigations REALLY FALTERED.

Not the police not doing their job.
Not to blame MAM or "by association the PN"

but

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE.

... which again some would say, puts very much into perspective what politicians actually STATED publicly in the run up of the 1987 elections.

Mr Tony Gatt

Dec 30th 2011, 13:44

As has been suggested, if delivered by post, it should be possible to lift the DNA of whoever licked the stamp.

Victor Vella

Dec 31st 2011, 10:30

Why asking the Labour for a foreign police intervention? Stop playing the second fiddle? Your former PM the eminent pious EFA said that he knows who killed Karin Grech. Ask Him?

M Farrugia

Dec 30th 2011, 10:09

Il-pulizija qeda hemm sabiex jinvestigaw. Iridu ikunu certa sabiex jakkuzaw lil xi hadd jekk tahseb li inti kapaci issolvi kull kaz li jinqal allura postok fil-pulizija u zgur li tibqa imnizzel fl-istorja bhal the super crime solver police.

Willie Grech

Dec 30th 2011, 10:22

and one wonders why some people who were somewhat involved in certain crimes in those days get promotions, business favours, contracts and so on afterwards!!!!! Maybe as rewards for their closing one eye or both?

Ms Maria Vella

Dec 30th 2011, 11:37

There is no guarantee that the police will be able to solve all crimes unfortunately, and as time passes it becomes more difficult.

I guess if it was just one person who was involved in the crime, then it will make it more difficult.

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