The possible involvement of foreign hit men is making it harder for the police to solve murders of the past few years, according to experts.
The murders that remain unsolved are not those which are clear cut, usually involving crime of passion, but those which have a possible involvement of foreigners sent to Malta to do the job and leave, they believe.
One such expert is retired forensic expert and court expert Anthony Abela Medici who pointed his finger at the increase in organised crime as the reason why many murders remain unsolved.
Making it amply clear that he was not speaking about this week’s murder as he was not involved in any way with the investigation, Dr Abela Medici said many of the murders in recent years and which remain unsolved had been strongly linked with hit men.
Many of the hit men are professionals and leave absolutely no clues in their tracks
“We’ve been seeing a trend of this in our country. This international dimension is making it more difficult for the police to solve the crimes,” he said. Many of the hit men are professionals and leave absolutely no clues in their tracks.
Asked whether lack of police resources could have an impact on this, Dr Abela Medici said that this could be the case. “I have full faith in our police and they do their utmost with the limited resources they have,” he said.
Another court expert, who preferred not to be named, said that despite the increase in closed circuit television cameras in the streets, criminals were being even more careful in the planning stages of their crime.
“We usually come across CCTV systems that were working and suddenly stop working just some time before a crime is committed. This is the extent of how careful criminals are being,” he said.
A trail of murders
March 2012
A night-time shootout in a Marsascala apartment block garage leaves Kevin Gatt, 32, dead and Stephen Zammit seriously wounded.
Joseph Cutajar, 45, known as Il-Lion, is charged with the murder of Mr Gatt and the attempted murder of Mr Zammit – this charge is subsequently changed to murder after Mr Zammit dies in hospital.
He is later released on bail.
October 2012
A homemade bomb containing a kilo of explosive material is found under the Toyota pick-up of Paul Degabriele, known as is-Suldat, near his Fgura flat. CCTV footage shows two hooded men near the vehicle.
December 2012
Mr Cutajar is killed in Mosta at 8.30am with a Kalashnikov. A few hours later Josef Grech, 41, from Balzan, il-Yo Yo, is found dead with a shot in the head in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.
Mr Grech was due to face a trial over his alleged involvement in the murder of a 55-year-old woman, Patricia Attard, who was shot dead at Ta’ Qali on February 13, 2004.
May 2013
Mr Degabriele is shot dead in Marsa at 11am shortly after leaving a bar. Several shots are fired from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. His assailants were in a stolen white van.
February 2014
Joe Galea, 58, of Marsa, known as il-Ġilda, dies of gunshot wounds. He is hit by five bullets while in his car outside his home. The bullets are believed to have been fired by two men using a 7.62 calibre assault rifle. The shots are fired from a silver Toyota Rav 4.
February 2014
Peter Cassar, 68, known as Pietru Il-Ħaqqa, is shot dead at 2pm on a doorstep in Triq Santa Marija, Żejtun.
August 2014
Jonathan Pace, the 31-year-old owner of Tyson Butcher, was shot dead while he was standing in his Fgura balcony
March 2015
Silvana Muscat, 36, was stabbed to death and found in her St Paul’s Bay apartment in March. Her estranged husband, Libyan national Nour Hamid, 35, is the prime suspect but he is still on the run.
March 2015
Raymond Caruana, 54, gunned down in an area known as San Blas in Rabat.
July 2015
Danish tourist Vera Bodil Engelbrecht Holm, 72, was found dead in a valley in Marsalforn. She was naked and had her belongings had been stolen.
No leads in lawyer’s murder
Investigators are at a loss on Thursday’s cold-bloodied murder of maritime lawyer Carmel Chircop, with very little leads to go by, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Sources close to the investigations said the police are analysing any contacts Dr Chircop made in his final days in a bid to shed some light on who could have been behind the gruesome murder.
One important factor was the death threats the victim had received in 2013 from a Pietà man against whom he had filed a garnishee order.
The 51-year-old lawyer, who was found dead in a multi-storey garage in Birkirkara, had reported the incident to the police two years ago after receiving a phone call from the man, whom Dr Chircop knew.
The autopsy concluded that Dr Chircop died from four gunshot wounds to his upper body. Forensic studies are under way to determine the type of weapon used.
Sources said the police were still on the lookout for the small, pale car driving along John Borg Street towards the car park early on Thursday morning.