Police investigations into the Sliema double stabbings on New Year’s Day 2012 have hit a brick wall as relatives yearn to know the truth one year on.

You can be in your house, your bed, sleeping... and you get attacked- Anġlu Xuereb

Investigators have tried honing in on the motive by attempting to establish a link between the two dead men – Duncan Zammit, 32, and Nicholas Gera, 26 – and any of their relatives.

“So far they have found none,” police sources told The Times.

Mr Zammit was killed by Mr Gera in the early hours of New Year’s Day at his Sliema penthouse where he was sleeping with his wife and twin three-month-old babies.

Investigations have so far failed to establish why Mr Gera, also from Sliema, entered the penthouse.

The two men are believed to have killed each other in a fight with knives although forensic tests have cast doubt on who delivered the fatal blow to Mr Gera.

This state of affairs has prevented family members from finding closure.

Mr Zammit’s family declined to comment, while entrepreneur Anġlu Xuereb, speaking on behalf of his widowed daughter, said it would take “many more years” to move on from this ordeal.

“We don’t want to make a big deal about it because even hearing about the case hurts us. You have to pass through an experience like this to truly understand the pain it caused,” Mr Xuereb said.

The family wanted closure, he insisted, and could not understand why the police had not yet closed the case. He said the family would have wanted to know why Mr Gera did what he did.

“We wanted to have at least a hint of why this happened. At least we would know something but today we still know nothing.”

Mr Xuereb added that his daughter was focusing her energy on raising the children.

At the time of the incident there were various people questioning whether Mr Xuereb, in his position as an influential businessman, had somehow attempted to keep information from emerging.

However, Mr Xuereb said: “Unfortunately the media, certain media, place their words carelessly without calculating the sensitivity of the case. It is difficult to hear these things.”

Mr Xuereb also had a message: “You never know what is going to happen to you. You can be in your house, your bed, sleeping... and you get attacked.”

Mr Gera’s mother, Tanya, also wants to know the truth. When contacted she said that a year later the family was still in the dark.

“We have heard nothing about the case except that forensic tests showed no drugs were involved. And my son was not gay. We are always hoping that some day we will know the truth and come to terms with it,” Ms Gera said.

Last year sources had told The Times that Mr Zammit’s wife, Claire Zammit Xuereb, could have stabbed Mr Gera to defend her husband. The police have so far declined to confirm whether her fingerprints were found on either of the two knives used by the men and she is the only witness.

However, questioned on various occasions Ms Zammit Xuereb has repeatedly said her husband died defending his family after Mr Gera attacked them with two steak knives while they were asleep. The knives were taken from the kitchen.

Early on in the investigation the police trawled, to no avail, through thousands of e-mails, mobile phone records and computer files to determine whether there had been any previous contact between the men.

Over the past 10 months there were no developments that necessitated people being questioned again, police sources said.

The reason for Mr Gera’s entry into the large penthouse remains a mystery as much as the elusive link between the two men.

Mr Gera had been working at a Paceville restaurant on New Year’s Eve and was last seen in an agitated state at a St Julian’s bar some 90 minutes before the fatal stabbings happened.

The case shocked an otherwise quiet neighbourhood. But one year on neighbours admit the shock has eased off although they remain perplexed because they have heard nothing.

“It is not as if we need to know. It is the parents of the two dead men who have a right to know what happened but it seems nothing has been done,” a neighbour said.

It is a feeling shared by others who live in the same apartment block.

“One year has passed and it seems as if nothing ever happened,” another neighbour said, noting the lack of progress in police investigations.

A magisterial inquiry is still ongoing.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com

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