It was reported in the press that 50 murders remained unsolved over the past four decades. Among these were the parcel-bomb killing of 15-year-old Karin Grech on December 28, 1977, and that of Raymond Caruana, 26, who died after he was hit by a bullet fired at the Gudja Nationalist Party club while a reception was being held there on December 5, 1986.
These two are probably the most high profile among the ‘cold cases’. Or, at least, they are the ones that are most likely to spring to mind first.
That is mainly because of the political controversy in which they have been shrouded.
The young girl died during a medical strike under the Labour government and her father, gynaecologist Edwin Grech, had been considered as a strike-breaker.
The death of Mr Caruana took place at a time when political tension was at its very peak with the danger of civil war becoming increasingly realistic.
The perpetrators were never found.
In Ms Grech’s case, there had been talk of the suspect/s being a medical student/s. Her father believes the explosive device used in the letter bomb was made by a criminal and the parcel by a carpenter, both engaged by medical students.
No charges were ever brought against anybody.
In the case of Mr Caruana, however, at least two people had been charged with offences related to his killing.
Pietru Pawl Busuttil was despicably framed by the police, who were trying to protect the real assailant, and Nicholas Ellul died of an overdose in 2001 before the case relating to his alleged involvement in the crime could be concluded.
The political ‘contamination’ of these two sad episodes in the country’s recent history is exacerbated every year when the two main parties mark the anniversary of the murders.
Trying to score political points in such cases is unacceptable. So, rather than posing near monuments or standing at gravesides engaging in rhetoric, it would be more meaningful for political leaders to resolve to take robust action to address the issue of unsolved crime.
Just days ago, on the anniversary of Ms Grech’s death, Joseph Muscat rightly noted that the horrible deaths of the young girl and Mr Caruana helped improve political tolerance. Perhaps, but what their families rightly expect is closure and law-abiding citizens want answers.
The police have, or, at least, had until a few months ago, a unit that focused on unsolved crime. However, this unit is inadequately manned and evidently overworked.
So why do the political leaders not agree to give this unit all the tools and manpower it requires to make inroads? It should even be empowered to seek all the assistance it may need, even from overseas, be it Scotland Yard, the FBI or wherever.
Just as essential is for the political parties to call and encourage their supporters/sympathisers to come forward with any information that they may have not just on the two high-profile cases but on others too. After all, as Dr Muscat noted, changes in the law now protect whistleblowers.
Solving cases – that is securing a positive prosecution rather than just arraigning suspects – would be the best way to commemorate Mr Grech, Mr Caruana and all the other victims of “cowardly acts”, to use Dr Muscat’s words. Otherwise, it would amount to no more than the political contamination of unsolved crime.