Forensic experts returned to Falcon House for the second consecutive day yesterday hoping to unlock any clue that will establish a motive into the double killings that took place in a Sliema penthouse on New Year’s Day.

Nothing is being excluded

Using specialised UV equipment that will show up any blood, fibres and bodily fluids not visible to the naked eye, they are combing every inch of the crime scene where Duncan Zammit, 32, and Nicholas Gera, 26, bled to death.

“We are doing our utmost to establish a motive,” sources close to the investigations said when contacted.

Eight weeks on, police are still trying to establish if there was a connection between the two men who got entangled in a violent fight involving two big steak knives that were seized from the apartment’s kitchen.

At a press conference last month police said they had found no links of any kind between the Zammit family and Mr Gera. Families of both victims have also always insisted they had no knowledge of any relation.

Forensic experts have asked for this week’s tests to be carried out, and the sources said the investigators would remain onsite for “as long as need be; a lot still has to be done”.

“This is a healthy exercise that investigators hope will bear fruit and provide concrete evidence,” the sources said, adding more fingerprints had been lifted during this week’s process.

On Tuesday inquiring Magistrate Edwina Grima, accompanied by forensic expert Mario Scerri and police from the Criminal Investigations Department, spent between 7 and 11.30 p.m. at Falcon House. They were back there yesterday for most of the day, and the plan is to return today. The scene of the crime has been sealed off since the New Year’s Day tragedy.

“Nothing is being excluded,” the sources insisted when asked if they were any closer to establishing a link between the Xuereb family and Mr Gera.

To date it remains a mystery as to why Mr Gera was in the High Street apartment of Mr Zammit and his wife Claire Zammit Xuereb in the early hours of New Year’s Day and what sparked the confrontation. There was no visible sign of forced entry.

Mr Gera never had a brush with the law, he has no history of violence and has no police record, the sources pointed out.

Mr Zammit died of nearly 30 knife wounds, cuts and bruises – mostly sustained as he tried to defend himself – while Mr Gera sustained no fewer than 10.

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