Jane Gerada, Josette Scicluna, Catherine Agius... and now Christine Sammut joins the roll-call of women murdered by their husbands, partners, or former ones. In the latter two cases, both perpetrators of the crime gave themselves up to the police right after the killing claiming responsibility for the murders.

When, a year and a half ago, Ms Agius was murdered by her husband, I had expressed my concern at a declaration made by a representative of the government agency Appoġġ, that “violent men should seek help for their controlling violent behaviour... had they done this, these femicides may also have been prevented...”

I had commented on the naïveté of the statement in that there’s no chance in hell a violent person would seek psychological help under his own steam. More often than not, perpetrators of violence do not even acknowledge this as a problem let alone admit they need help. Thus, to help in “the prevention of these femicides”, once there is a report of domestic violence, action to protect the victim has to be taken immediately, together with court-mandated treatment for the perpetrator.

Fast-forward to the killing of Ms Sammut two weeks ago. It transpires the victim had reported her former boyfriend for chasing her while brandishing a knife a month earlier; she had also reported him again a day before he killed her. Was anything done about this? Did the victim press for charges? And if not, isn’t a report of being threatened by a man with a knife enough to cause serious concern? Doesn’t such a report, even if there is no request from the victim – probably because she is afraid her aggressor will be even more violent when he gets to know that she reported him – call for immediate action?

Had the police services collaborated over these threats against Ms Sammut who was then killed? Were the police informed that health professionals had tried to keep the aggressor in Mount Carmel Hospital a few months before the tragedy but he was then allowed to dismiss himself from this hospital? Does the fact that, after the previous attack, Ms Sammut managed to escape with no serious bodily harm mean it’s not all that bad? It seems so.

What protection was Ms Sammut given? When a woman plucks up courage and reports physical abuse, she usually does this after having been in a violent relationship for a long while. The minute she goes to the police is when she needs protection most for the reason mentioned earlier.

A recent study shows the incidence of domestic violence in Malta is very high with a quarter of the female population having experienced violence from a partner at some time in her life with him. The domestic violence law was watered down when the minister had insisted that once the victim forgives her assailant the case is dropped. This, when it is a known fact many times a woman is bullied into “forgiving” her aggressor so he is not punished by law.

After the killing of Ms Agius, the Women’s Study Group had issued a statement pointing out “the legal authorities need to take action against violent perpetrators before the act happens and not after”.

Shamefully, we’ve let it happen again. Even though various reports had been filed by Ms Sammut against her partner, he still managed to finally kill her. How many times have we reiterated we must seriously see to the protection of women in these situations, especially once the police have been alerted?

Last week, the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, spoke of introducing a scheme already tested in New York and which yielded good results whereby the incidence of physical domestic violence has been significantly cut down. This involved giving the police wide powers to conduct spot checks on men reported for beating their partners. It is said the exercise yielded good results because perpetrators felt a sense of being watched and that their coats are hanging on shaky nails.

True, men are also victims of domestic violence. But here I am discussing physical violence and not verbal or psychological abuse, which, although also very damaging to a person, does not result in the victim being killed. It is because of physical violence that women are terrified for their lives, severely injured, disabled and dead.

The least the state can do is to get serious about protecting these women.

I wish the editor, staff and readers of The Times a healthy and serene 2011.

Dr Dalli is shadow minister for the public service and government investment.