The Malta Women's Lobby on Thursday expressed its deep "disappointment and anger" at the sentences handed down this week in relation to the domestic violence incidents reported by Bernice Cilia before she was murdered.

The fact that a woman who reported serious threats, including being threatened with death and subjected to a knife attack, sees justice delivered only after she has been killed is a devastating indictment of the system. Justice delayed is justice denied. In Bernice Cilia's case, justice was not merely delayed. It came too late to protect her life, the group said.

The additional prison terms of only a few months for incidents of such gravity send a deeply troubling message to our society. When a woman reports that she has been threatened with being killed, and when violence has already escalated to life-threatening levels, the response must be urgent, serious and protective. Anything less places women at further risk.

Bernice Cilia did what women are repeatedly told to do. She reported. She sought help. She relied on the authorities to protect her. Yet the system failed her, the Women's Lobby said. The sentence now delivered cannot undo that failure, nor can it restore the life that was taken. It can only remind us, again, how dangerous it is when domestic violence is treated as a lesser offence until it becomes femicide.

This case exposes once again the lethal consequences of minimising coercive control, threats to kill, breaches of protection orders, and escalating violence. Threats are not "just words". They are often warnings. They are often part of a pattern. They must be treated as serious indicators of risk, the statement added.

The Malta Women's Lobby reiterated that women's lives depend on a justice system that acts swiftly, decisively and consistently. Delayed proceedings, weak enforcement, and lenient outcomes like the one given all contribute to a culture in which perpetrators are not stopped in time and victims are left exposed.

Bernice Cilia's femicide must not be remembered only as another tragic case. It must be remembered as a moment that exposed how badly the system is failing women who seek protection and it must become a catalyst for change.

Women in Malta deserve protection while they are still alive.

The Malta Women's Lobby said it will continue to insist that violence against women is treated with the seriousness it deserves and that the justice system protects victims before it is too late.