Neighbours sure Sliema victims were connected

Residents of Falcon House in Sliema – the scene of the gruesome New Year’s Day stabbings – are not convinced the two dead men were not connected, despite the fact that police have not yet established a link one month later.

I simply cannot believe there was no motive and it was a question of chance, not here!

The lack of a motive for the deaths of Duncan Zammit, the owner of the apartment where the murder occurred, and Nicholas Gera, who made his way into it in the early hours of January 1, would have reignited the residents’ fears – had they really believed it.

It would have meant that “it could have happened to any of us”, some of the residents of the apartment blocks in High Street said.

But many do not accept that the killing was random and that Mr Gera just happened to choose the penthouse in Block B, without knowing the victim, or the apartment.

That scenario would put the neighbours in a precarious situation, and had they believed the murder was unmotivated, they would be succumbing to fear again, following the police’s announcement last week.

At its first press conference since the killings, the police claimed they were no nearer to discovering the motive. The families of the dead have both reiterated they knew of no link between them and investigations into 35,000 calls and messages revealed no association.

The nation was left in shock when Mr Zammit and Mr Gera were found dead from multiple stab wounds in the presence of the owner’s wife Claire Zammit Xuereb and her newborn twins.

The tragic incident scarred the country, and overnight, many said they stopped feeling safe in their own homes, reliving the mysterious death. The public has searched for reasons to be able to come to terms with such a senseless and appalling story that really hit home.

But a month later, several fundamental questions have remained unanswered and the public – as well as the Gera family, which does not have access to the only eyewitness – are still in the dark as to what exactly happened and, more importantly, why, leaving them fearing the Zammits’ fate could be anyone’s.

“We had started talking about it less over the last couple of weeks,” said one of the neighbours. “But our fear has not been rekindled since the police’s press conference because we know – we feel – there was a connection between the two men.”

From his conversations with other neighbours, the young man, however, claims the situation was different for the elderly residents, who were still living in fear.

The 24-hour police presence at Falcon House has served to make some of its residents feel safer. “We know they are not here to protect us, but probably to prevent anyone entering the scene of the crime. Still, their presence is reassuring,” they said.

For others though, the police – sometimes two – are only protecting the driveway into Falcon House and not the entrance through the garages on Amery Street.

Police believe Mr Gera entered the penthouse by gaining access to the roof and jumping a height of one floor into its terrace. There are no signs of a forced entry, ransacking or even that he was familiar with the place.

Since the deaths, security measures in the building have been stepped up and the doors on to the roofs, which would have previously remained open, have been tightly locked.

Meetings between residents have also been held to see what needs to be done to ensure the building’s security.

The Falcon House residents are not interested in details of the private lives of the persons involved in the fatal attack; they just want to know why it happened and not be left in the dark.

“If it was not a robbery (which was immediately ruled out), then what was it? Questions should have been answered and the truth must come out,” another resident said.

“I simply cannot believe there was no motive and it was a question of chance, not here!

“Any fear is a result of the fact that we are not getting anywhere and that we know nothing. But no connection does not make any sense,” she said.