Murder has always been considered a rarity in Malta and Gozo, and every death is, rightly, treated as a tragedy - to the extent that,  whenever such a heinous act is committed, it is always received with a collective outcry of rage and disbelief in equal parts.

Apart from yesterday's alleged double murder case, the double murder of a mother and child in the same case is a rarity in Malta - in fact, there have only been two such instances in the last 27 years: one in 1992 and the other in 2001.

In 2001, a 47-year-old man from Zejtun murdered a young woman and her 17-month-old daughter in what was described as a "vile and macabre" crime.

He provided the young woman he proceeded to murder with money in exchange for sex, as she was a drug addict, and in one instance of this happening she brought her daughter - leaving her in the sitting room.

The victim allegedly asked him for Lm1,000 to buy drugs and he refused to pay her, and this led to her threatening to tell his wife about the affair and she brandished a penknife from her bag. He then allegedly took the knife from his victim and stabbed her several times in the chest and other parts of her body. The little girl then left the sitting room and went to see what her mother had been screaming about, and this led to him proceeding to stab her as well.

He then threw them into a well, followed by the penknife, the woman's handbag and blood-stained sheets and towels.

He was sentenced to life behind bars for the double murder.

Prior to this case, an explosion in Paola in 1992 caused by two men - both of whom were subsequently handed a life sentence, reduced to 20 years in 2007 - killed a young mother and her baby.

Both of the men - one  a 52-year-old from Zurrieq and the other, a 39-year-old from Paola - were jailed for life in connection with arson at the photo studio of one them, Oxford Studio, in Paola.

The arson provoked an explosion that killed a 24-year-old woman and her 18-month-old son on 18 March 1992.

The two men, together with Vincent Spiteri - who was jailed for five years, were also found guilty of setting fire to the studio in order to obtain insurance money. They were jailed for life after a trial by jury in February 2002.