A 63-year-old prisoner who four months ago asked to be released on compassionate grounds because of terminal cancer, died in hospital yesterday, still tormented by the fear of spending more time in jail.
“I can see a car with a policeman in it. They’re going to take me back,” Salvu Gauci told a number of his siblings on his death bed.
Mr Gauci was imprisoned nine years ago after being found guilty in a trial by jury of stabbing his sister-in-law Anna Kok in a Ħamrun street in 1997 leading to her death.
For her husband and son, Mr Gauci’s death marked the end of an enormously difficult chapter in their lives. When the campaign for Mr Gauci’s compassionate release began, they were devastated and told The Times the sooner he died the better.
Peter Kok said he could never forgive Mr Gauci for taking away his wife and his son’s mother. “Let him burn in hell... I know I am being harsh. But life made me that way. He stabbed her like a dog in the street,” he had said.
The Kok family later issued a statement saying Mr Gauci should be given all his medical needs but should not be granted a Presidential pardon.
“I am very relieved. Now we can finally close this chapter. Justice has been done. He got the best medical service but not an amnesty. That is what we wanted. We can never forgive him. He ruined our lives,” Mr Kok said.
On March 2, Mr Gauci was transferred to Mater Dei Hospital and later that same month to Boffa Hospital, where he died surrounded by his relatives and after being administered the last rites. He was referred to hospital by the prison doctor.
His sister Aida, who in December said her brother only had days to live, was grateful he did not die alone in a prison cell. But it still hurt her that a guard still watched over him.
“He had a prison warder constantly by his room. We never got a response from the authorities regarding the pardon. Even the nurses told us it was ridiculous that a man in his fragile state was guarded by a warder. What was he going to do? But that is our sentence, I guess.”
She thanked the prison director and other staff and residents at the prison who all provided support.
In his frail state, Ms Gauci said, her brother had repeatedly asked everyone for forgiveness and, according to his sister, most of his victim’s siblings had visited him in hospital in his last days.
“We were with him 24 hours a day. We told him he would not have to go back to prison and that we would be by his side to see him go. But he kept saying that a police car was coming for him,” Ms Gauci said in tears.
Mr Gauci was serving a 19-year sentence but, because of remission, his earliest date of release would have been December 2012.
Acting prison director Abraham Zammit yesterday thanked all the staff of the hospital for their professionalism and dedication during Mr Gauci’s treatment.