The family of a man murdered four years ago is still unable to bury his remains, months after DNA testing proved they were his, his father said yesterday.

“My son was found dead years ago. The authorities finally proved it was his remains that were found in that field but we are stuck in this senseless bureaucracy. My family deserves closure,” Vincent Zahra, 71, said.

Parts of his son Matthew’s decomposing corpse were found in a field in Birżebbuġa in 2013 during a police search for convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, known as l-Imnieħru, and his son, also Mario, both of whom were the victims of a gruesome double murder.

Mr Zahra, 27, a taxi driver, is believed to have been murdered after an argument over a sum of money he had lent Jason Galea, 39, the man who stands accused of his murder. During the court case, Mr Galea was said to have admitted to the police that he met Mr Zahra in Marsaxlokk, luring him to a field to unearth a fictitious stash of drugs and money buried there. Mr Zahra was allegedly shot in the head before being buried in a shallow grave.

Why should we have to live like this four years after his death?

His father said he understood court cases on such matters could take several years but was dumbfounded at how his son’s remains were still being held by the authorities.

"Why should we have to live like this four years after his death? It isn't fair. It’s like my son isn’t even officially dead until he is buried. We have this hanging over our heads. How can we move on with our lives until this is over,” Mr Zahra asked.

The distress being caused to his family was not only emotional, he said. Mr Zahra said his daughter-in-law was facing difficulty renewing her identification documents and changing other official information while her late-husband’s remains were held in legal limbo.

To make matters worse, her six-year-old daughter was unable to leave the country without special permission, which had caused problems for a recently-planned holiday.

“Why should we have to live like this four years after his death? It simply isn’t fair,” an exasperated Mr Zahra told the Times of Malta.    Mona, Mr Camilleri’s widow, had also complained of problems with her husband’s burial. Mr Camilleri was reburied two years after his body was exhumed for further investigation after his wife spent months imploring the authorities to lay him to rest next to her son.

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