Making femicide a criminal offence is “pointless” because the crime of voluntary homicide already carries the highest possible punishment – life imprisonment – Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said on Tuesday.
He was asked to react to a report compiled by the Women’s Rights Foundation and the University of Malta, who called for femicide to be made a criminal offence or an aggravating offence of homicide. The report also recommends the use of GPS monitoring for predators out on bail, saying that electronic tagging can reduce the risk of femicide.
It was released a few days after the rape and murder of Polish national Paulina Dembska, on 2 January.
Video: Miguela Xuereb/Newsbook
Asked for a reaction, the justice minister said the heinous crime had shocked society to the core, but added that legal amendments are not done “as a knee-jerk reaction.”
“We have the Istanbul convention that has been signed and ratified. A lot of work has been done on that front, but there is more to do, not necessarily from the legislative aspect.”
“From the legislative aspect, there is a lot of confusion in the questions that are being put forward. Femicide is, by definition, the intentional killing of a woman or a girl only due to their status of a woman or a girl. The crime of voluntary homicide in Malta carries the highest possible penalty – life. Therefore, it is pointless to include another crime that also carries a life imprisonment term.”
Zammit Lewis said it would be easy for the government to amend the law in this regard “to look good,” but reiterated that there can be no punishment higher than life imprisonment.
“This does not mean, however, that we shouldn’t do more, not only on a legislative and administrative level but also educationally, to ensure that such a thing never happens again.”