Karin Grech murder still a mystery 45 years on from brutal parcel bomb

Opposition leader Bernard Grech has pleaded with police to keep seeking justice, 45 years on from the brutal murder of his young cousin, Karin Grech, at the hands of a parcel bomb addressed to her father Edwin.

The 15-year-old was killed by the parcel bomb just three days after Christmas 1977, that was addressed to her father, a doctor who was a strike-breaker during the medical strike of the time. The girl opened what was a brown envelope enclosed within a Christmas wrapped parcel. The bomb immediately exploded in her face, in front of her 10-year-old brother. She died a few moments later in hospital.

“You must not rest till justice is served,” Bernard Grech said in a Facebook statement marking 45 years since the assassination. “Her murder remains a stain on the history of our country,” Grech said, and “a horrible day for our family.”

Grech said he still hopes the whole truth about this crime will be known and in light of this, he renewed his appeal for the police to do everything possible to solve this crime.

The murder happened at the height of the doctors’ strike, during which Grech continued to work at St Luke’s Hospital when the government asked him to run its obstetrics and gynaecology department. Grech was amongst the few Maltese doctors who refused to strike, as a consultant in the UK at the time who had agreed to return to Malta to fulfil the role until the industrial dispute ended.

Motivated by the medical-political unrest at the time, the crime rocked the nation but remained unsolved. No one was ever charged and convicted of Karin’s murder.

The girl's father, Edwin Grech, would later become a Labour MP

‘She would have been 60 today’ – Roberta Metsola

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola recalled how that feeble girl would have been 60 years old today before the letter addressed to her father cost her life. “Such painful events show how much justice and the search for the truth can never be postponed or prolonged. Time does not heal and does not forget,” said Metsola.

Prime Minister Robert Abela joined others with a comment on social media, insisting Karin Grech will remain unforgotten.

ADPD: murder led to Raymond Caruana and Caruana Galizia killings

At a press conference during which flowers were laid at the monument dedicated to Karin Grech in San Gwann, Green Party leader Carmel Cacopardo said the sad occasion reminded Malta of what intolerance leads to. 

He said Karin Grech was a victim of intolerance that was prevalent during her time, a climate that has led to other murders such as that of Raymond Caruana in 1986, and Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

“This intolerance is still evident today, showing up in different – sometimes subtle – ways,” Cacopardo said, blaming the political tribalism which “still divides Maltese” and leads to violence manifesting itself both verbally and psychologically.

“Karin Grech’s assassination has never spurred us on looking introspectively at our country: indeed, partisanship and intolerance bound together have unfortunately led to other murders such as those of Raymond Caruana and Daphne Caruana Galizia. We are all duty bound to say out loud and clear: violence is never acceptable independently of who is the victim,” Cacopardo said.