Earlier this week, a trial by jury convicted former policeman Carmel Cutajar of the attempted murder of his estranged wife, Maria, in 2012 and he was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Although Ms Cutajar’s life was spared, thankfully, there were 131 cases of femicide (the killing of women) between 1800 and the end of 2015, according to crime historian Edward Attard.
In the newly published book Il-Femiċidju: Qtil ta’ Nisa f’Malta, (Femicide: The murder of women in Malta) a BDL publication, Mr Attard explores every single murder case where the victim was female in the past 215 years.
The murder of women in Malta was spurred by a number of motives, Mr Attard writes. Among the ones elaborated upon in the book is the love triangle – where a married man would begin an affair with another woman and then endeavour to get rid of his wife. Often enough, the man would end up losing both women, Mr Attard writes – since one would be murdered, while the male perpetrator would end up behind bars.
Other motives include adultery committed by a woman, which often led the husband or lover to murder her. The fear of separation led to murder, as well as heated arguments over issues such as...
