Bernice Cassar murder: husband is arrested after SIU officers storm apartment

The husband of murder victim Bernice Cassar, the chief suspect in her cold-blooded killing yesterday Tuesday morning, has been arrested after a 17-hour stand-off.

The Special Intervention Unit made a forced entry into the Qrendi house at around 2am and made their way to the second floor apartment where Cassar’s estranged husband, Roderick Cassar, 40, had holed himself up in.

Police used flash-bangs to immobilise the murder suspect, and also seized the suspected murder weapon, a shotgun.

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Bernice Cassar was shot in the face and chest by her estranged husband at the Corradino industrial estate, soon after she had dropped off their two children to school.

The couple had been married nine years.

Casssar is believed to have fired three shots, two of which hit the woman in her face and chest. Police were talking to witnesses.

Cassar, 40, bled to death outside her vehicle. The murder suspect then holed up in his Qrendi residence at 9:30am, with police officers trying to convince the man to give himself up.

The victim had filed five police reports against her husband for domestic violence, one of them as recently as Monday morning, the day before she was murdered. Charges had been issued for three of the reports that were filed in May and the relevant court cases were scheduled to be heard in November 2023.

Two other reports from the victim had been received, one earlier this month and another Monday morning. “The police had already interrogated the aggressor and upon the recommendation of the victim’s lawyer, a restraining order was sought,” Commissioner of Police Angelo Gafà said. The latest reports concerned breaches of the restraining order.

He said the police reports primarily concerned psychological abuse but one of the cases involved minor physical injuries. The victim was being given support by the police victim support agency.

Magistrate Noel Bartolo is leading an inquiry into the murder.