[WATCH] Bernice Cassar murder: Husband Roderick Cassar charged with femicide
Roderick Cassar is the first person to be charged with femicide, an aggravated form of homicide, following the murder of his wife Bernice Cassar on Tuesday as she was driving to work
The husband of murder victim Bernice Cassar was charged on Thursday with wilful femicide, an aggravated form of homicide, and remanded in custody.
Roderick Cassar, 42, from Qrendi pleaded not guilty to the charges and no bail was requested.
The man was arrested at 2am on Wednesday after the Special Intervention Unit made a forced entry into his Qrendi house were he had been holed up for 17 hours. Police used flash-bangs to immobilise the murder suspect, and also seized the suspected murder weapon, a shotgun.
This is the first time that femicide is being used as an aggravating offence in a court of law after it was introduced in the Criminal Code earlier this year, following the New Year's Day murder of Paulina Dembska.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel. Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Marita Pace Dimech appeared parte civile for the victim's family.
Roderick Cassar was charged with wilful femicide, holding his victim against her will, using violence, including moral and psychological violence, using a firearm while committing a crime and possession of a firearm without permit. Other charges include stealing the victim's mobile phone and car key, and the wilful damage to her property.
He was also charged with breaching a probation order and insulting a third party - believed to be a civilian who had tried to intervene on the morning of the murder.
Cassar murdered his wife on Tuesday at 8am while she was driving to work at the Corradino industrial estate in Paola. He shot her in the face and chest. Bernice Cassar died on the spot.
The couple, who have two young children, had been going through an acrimonious separation and Bernice Cassar had filed several domestic violence reports against her husband.
The day before being murdered, Bernice Cassar had filed another police report against her husband, claiming a breach of the protection order issued by the courts earlier in summer. It remains unclear why the police failed to act decisively on Monday's report and another one filed a week earlier.
Lawyers Stefano Filletti, Marita Pace Dimech, Anne Marie Cutajar and Rodianne Sciberras appear as parte civile. Nicole Meilak