The result of the Yorgen Fenech trial by jury has meant that after nine years, Daphne Caruana Galizia's family, together with the rest of us, have been denied justice for one of the most heinous crimes to ever rattle this country. Nine years, where the State has failed each and every law-abiding citizen.
The question now is whether Robert Abela is prepared to acknowledge the serious misgivings that have led to this miscarriage of justice, and allow the whole country to turn a fresh page.
Robert Abela has a decision to make, and so far, he has fallen very short of what is expected of him. He has spent years telling us how he is his own man, how he doesn't take any direction from anyone, as he has tried to distance himself from his predecessor.
Yet, talk is cheap, and in actual fact, Robert Abela remains prisoner of his own lack of political will. This was once again made immensely clear, as he refused to implement full recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry, yet again.
The inquiry's recommendations remain sitting on his desk, ready to be implemented in full, yet for some reason, Robert Abela remains frozen in the headlights, unable to put his money where his mouth is.
Robert Abela cannot have it both ways. He cannot choose which parts of the past to own and which parts to throw out. He cannot say Malta has changed while institutions remain largely unreformed.
Moreover, Robert Abela certainly cannot pretend that Castille had nothing to do with any of this. For the very first time in our history, jurors were taken to the highest office of our executive, during possibly the most important jury of our times, to see with their eyes the places mentioned in the endless documentation presented to the court. This is the level of humiliation this country has been subjected to.
The climate of impunity started from the very top and was cultivated inside government itself. That is precisely why implementing the recommendations of the inquiry is proving to be so difficult for Robert Abela.
A government that talks about accountability in press conferences but does absolutely nothing about it, continues chipping away at its own credibility on the subject of good governance, and is a crying shame for our democracy.
Robert Abela needs to own up. Fully, publicly, and without the endless qualifications he has become so practised at giving us. Implement every recommendation of the public inquiry, on a clear timeline, with no more excuses. Anything less is a continuation of the sorry situation this country has been dragged through for the past years.