Looking Back 2024: Femicide, a dismembered body, and police leaks

Shooting of Eric Borg in Rabat 

On 1 January 2024, as families across the islands ushered in the new year, police were called to investigate the first murder of the year: the killing of 27-year-old Eric Borg in Rabat. 

Borg was fatally shot with a shotgun following an argument and was declared dead at the scene. He was found face down with gunshot wounds on his back and side, and eyewitnesses told the police that he had been shot at point-blank range.  

The suspect, 39-year-old Noel Azzopardi, turned himself in about three hours after the shooting. Following the murder, court sittings centred on the fact that Azzopardi had a history of psychiatric illness, but this did not prevent him from owning at least five shotguns. 

In court, it emerged that when asked why he had shot Borg, Azzopardi stated that "a darkness" had come over him. Later in the proceedings, a panel of psychiatrists found that the suspect suffered from serious mental illness and intellectual difficulties. 

Stabbing of Sandra Ramirez 

On 13 January at around 6:13am, Colombian national Fabian Eliuth Garcia Parada entered the Sliema police station and told officers that he had just killed a woman in an apartment. This was Malta’s first femicide of the year. 

When police officers entered the premises, they found a dead woman lying face-up in a bed. The victim was identified as Sandra Ramirez, a 43-year-old Colombian, who was the accused’s ex-girlfriend. 

Ramirez had been stabbed and slashed 26 times with a knife bought by the alleged murderer the day before the killing from a local supermarket. Inspectors testifying in court described the scene as “macabre.” 

It later emerged that Garcia Parada had proposed to Ramirez just a few weeks before the murder while they were on a trip to Paris. 

Murder at Mount Carmel 

Malta’s third murder of 2024 took place in Mount Carmel Hospital’s forensic unit, when 54-year-old inmate Jesmond Gatt was found in a pool of blood on 13 July. He was found on the ground in his room, where he was housed with two other inmates. 

Gatt had a long criminal record and was recently released from prison after serving a four-year jail term, according to court records. His initial bail request on the charge of arson had been denied, leading to his detention at the forensic ward. 

At the time, Prison Director Chris Siegersma said that the Correctional Services Agency had been informed that Gatt had "slipped and hit his head," and an inquiry was subsequently launched. 

Months later, 22-year-old Serbian national Vuk Milic was charged with his murder. 

In court, it later emerged that Milic, who shared the room with the deceased, had allegedly confessed to the murder when speaking to a medical officer at the Correctional Services Agency. 

Gruesome femicide and police standoff 

On 12 August, Malta woke up to news of the shocking murder of Nicolette Ghirxi, who was stabbed to death by her ex-partner. 

Her killer was 50-year-old Irishman Edward Johnston. It is believed that Johnston killed his ex-partner late at night, as her home bore no signs of forced entry. 

However, the police would only come to know about the murder a few hours later. After killing Ghirxi in her Birkirkara flat, Johnston headed to the Hilton Hotel in St Julian’s. There, Johnston used a replica of a gun to threaten hotel staff as he demanded that a bartender get him a beer. 

Johnston eventually exited the hotel and went to a beach behind the building, where a three-hour standoff with the police ensued. Between midnight and 3:00 am, Johnston kept his replica pistol pointed at his head. The standoff ended when he lowered the replica and attempted to rush a police officer. He was shot three times and was declared dead. His last words were, "Are you ready? Because I am." 

On the day of the murder, MaltaToday reported that this was not Johnston’s first standoff with the police. In 2012, he made a bomb threat in a restaurant in Glasgow. At the time, he entered the restaurant, ordered two glasses of wine, and told the waiter that he had a bomb under his jacket. 

According to news reports at the time, Johnston repeatedly said that he wanted the police to kill him as he threw items on the pavement outside the restaurant. He was subsequently shot with a stun gun before being arrested. One week before the Glasgow incident, Johnston had waved a fake gun in the Liverpool city centre. He was believed to have told witnesses at the time, "I'm either going to kill someone or get killed tonight." 

The murder of Nicolette Ghirxi prompted yet another soul-searching exercise in Malta, as questions arose about whether systemic failures led to another femicide. 

A dismembered body inside a floating suitcase 

Although it is not being treated as a murder case, the discovery of a dismembered body in a suitcase floating just off the Gżira promenade will remain etched in Malta’s collective memory as one of the most gruesome crimes of 2024. 

On 9 December, two children on a paddle boat found a suitcase floating between Manoel Island and Gżira and hauled it back on land. When they showed it to two adults, they informed the police that they had just found a dismembered body. 

The entire suitcase was taken in for investigation. The victim, who at the time of writing remains unidentified, is believed to be a Colombian man with a disability. An autopsy later revealed that the victim had 101 capsules of cocaine in his stomach, and the cause of death was suffocation. The investigation also suggested that the corpse was cut up after the victim’s death.  

Police later arrested 43-year-old Andres Leonardo Gamboa Duran from Colombia in connection with the disposal of the body. 

It emerged in court that investigators were led to Duran after seeing him on CCTV footage in the shop where he bought the suitcase and an axe believed to have been used in the dismemberment. Along with Duran, police also arrested a 39-year-old Portuguese man. He was not arrested in connection with the same case, however, as police explained that he would face drug-related charges. 

A young entrepreneur who advertised on TikTok 

Shifting focus from the more macabre cases, 2024 also saw several notable crimes involving drugs and other illicit goods, highlighting the ways in which they are trafficked and sold in Malta. 

Among them is the case of a young man, who was accused of running several illegal businesses while advertising his products on TikTok. 

Elton Zammit, a 26-year-old man who works in plumbing and maintenance, was arraigned on around 20 charges related to money laundering, fraud, and drug trafficking. 

In November, police received an anonymous tip regarding a TikTok account allegedly advertising sirens and beacon lights for private vehicles. Following a surveillance operation, the man was allegedly found to be driving a vehicle fitted with beacon lights and a siren that were switched on. The vehicle was also found to be unregistered and without the proper licence. 

After searching his home, police found a number of fake watches, bags, and jewellery, along with €16,350 in his safe. They also seized pepper spray ready for sale, as well as cash and cloned cards used for credit card fraud. The investigation also allegedly found that the suspect was advertising counterfeit cash and would be paid for such products in cryptocurrency. 

Zammit was also allegedly the owner of a business on the dark web, where illegal substances would be sold from China and then shipped to another country. 

246kg of cocaine seized in a few days 

In November, police seized a total of 246kg of cocaine from the Freeport in two separate drug busts. The larger of the two, weighing 146kg and with a street value of €20 million, raised alarm as the shipment was destined for the local market. This was in contrast to most large-scale Freeport drug busts, where shipments are typically bound for other ports in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Four Maltese men were arrested on-site, with police charging hauliers Darren Dimech, 46, the driver of the intercepted truck, and Roderick Camilleri, 44, the passenger. Meanwhile, chef Kurt Scicluna was also charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs, trafficking of cocaine, criminal association, money laundering, and recidivism. All three men have pleaded not guilty. 

MaltaToday reported that Scicluna was identified as the person who allegedly appointed Camilleri and Dimech to the job, offering them a generous compensation package worth thousands of euros. 

This newspaper also discovered that Scicluna owns a car dealership in Għaxaq that goes by his initials – KS Autodealer. 

Sources close to the investigation told MaltaToday that the three men are part of a criminal organisation with an intricate web of operatives kept together by promises of generous cash payments and fear of retribution from a “ruthless hidden hand.” 

Human trafficking ring 

In August 2024, the police arrested and arraigned eight Maltese men, one Maltese woman, and two Romanians on human trafficking and money laundering charges. Maltese police conducted raids across several towns, arresting 11 individuals after a two-month investigation into brothels. 

The defendants are: Luke Farrugia, 36, from Birkirkara, self-employed in the maintenance and finishes trade; Clint D’Amato, 36, from Gudja, a driver; Denzil Farrugia, 19, from Marsa, employed in the catering industry; Alexandra Suhov Procora, 32, a Romanian woman residing in St Paul’s Bay, an accountant; Nicolae Efimov, 37, also Romanian, residing in St Paul’s Bay; Kane Vassallo, 22, from Siggiewi, a barber; Luca Emanuele Corito, 21, from Isla, who declined to state his occupation; Dylan McKay, 30, from Fgura, a taxi driver; and Gordon Cassar, 44, from Żebbug, a maintenance worker.The Colombian sex workers who testified in the court proceedings described how they were duped into coming to Malta under false pretences and how they were forced to work in harrowing conditions. 

One witness described sleeping with five to six clients every day, but would only receive the bulk of the money promised to her by her alleged pimps. She explained how her earnings were collected by one of the accused and that all her work was coordinated through a WhatsApp group. A common factor between the escorts was that they had all travelled to Malta for sex work in order to make money for their families back home. 

Two police officers suspected of leaking information 

In the final weeks of 2024, two police officers found themselves on the opposite side of the law, as they were both suspected and investigated for allegedly leaking sensitive information to third parties. 

Cherise Camilleri, 28, from Qormi, was first arrested and arraigned for allegedly leaking information related to police operations to third parties. The court heard that, during an investigation, a number of confidential sources had told the police that an officer from the drugs squad had been leaking information about police operations for months “and possibly years.” Investigators also examined the social media profiles of a person of interest in an investigation, which revealed that the person and the accused knew each other. 

Police later arrested Ruud Buhagiar, a gym owner accused of bribing Camilleri in order to obtain information. Both deny the charges against them. 

A few weeks later, Kurt Rizzo, a police officer working within the Special Interventions Unit, was also investigated over suspected information leaks to third parties. However, at the time of writing, Rizzo has not yet been charged with any crime, and it is unclear whether his case is connected to that of Cherise Camilleri. 

The son of former police commissioner John Rizzo and the brother of a magistrate, Rizzo was suspended from his duties and is currently on police bail.