Bernice Cassar murder: inquiry into potential state failings concluded
An inquiry tasked with assessing whether any state entity failed femicide victim Bernice Cassar has been concluded and submitted to the government, Times of Malta can reveal. The report compiled by retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia is currently being analysed, sources said. Valenzia was tasked with running an independent inquiry into events leading to Cassar's murder by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, who jointly announced the initiative on the same day that Cassar was murdered. Camilleri had pledged to make the findings of the inquiry public. Mother-of-two Bernice Cassar had filed multiple police reports against her ex-husband Roderick before she was shot dead as she drove to work on November 22. Days before she was killed, her lawyer pleaded with police to take action against her ex-huband for breaching a protection order. He has since been charged with her murder and is denying the charges. The original deadline for the inquiry was set for December 19. However, the judge had asked for an extension for his investigation to be as “thorough as possible,” Camilleri had told Times of Malta. The inquiry was intended to examine whether...