Justice Minister dismisses calls for specific femicide offence: 'Homicide already carries lifetime jail term'

Femicide does not need to be a criminal offence in its own right because voluntary homicide already carries the highest sentence possible, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said.

Women's rights activists called for femicide to be made a criminal offence after Paulina Dembska, a Polish student living in Malta, was raped and killed in a public garden during the first weekend of 2022. The perpetrator, Abner Aquilina, was arrested shortly afterwards but his interrogation had to be suspended by police after he was admitted to Mount Carmel Hospital for treatment.

But Zammit Lewis insisted on Tuesday that voluntary homicide already carried a lifetime prison sentence - the highest penalty possible under Maltese law.

"Legal amendments aren’t implemented through knee-jerk reaction. The Istanbul Convention was signed and ratified, a lot of work has been done in this regard, but more work needs to be done, and not necessarily legal work, to tackle this issue," he said.

He added that there are other legislative, administrative, or educational measures that can be taken to stop further cases like the murder of Paulina Dembska.

A report on femicide in Malta released last week insisted that femicide should be made a criminal offence or an aggravating offence of homicide.

The country report compiled by the University of Malta and the Women's Rights Foundation also recommends the use of GPS monitoring for predators out on bail and in cases where a suspended sentence has been awarded and restraining orders have been issued. The report says electronic tagging can reduce the risk of femicide.

READ ALSO: Report recommends femicide be made a criminal offence, tagging of predators on bail