Sion Grech’s family commences action against State over bungled investigation and prosecution

Murder victim Sion Grech’s siblings filed a judicial protest earlier today demanding compensation from the State for delaying the investigation into the 2005 murder and for prosecution shortcomings that led to the acquittal of the accused.

The lawsuit – filed against the Police Commissioner, State Advocate and Attorney General – claims a breach of human rights that protect life. Moreover, it accuses the authorities of failing to keep them updated about the prosecution of the suspects.

Sion Grech was 20 years old when she was found dead in a Marsa field after being stabbed an estimated 17 times.

Libyan Ismael Habesh and Tunisian Faical Mohouachi were charged with the murder and 18 years after Grech’s death, a jury last January acquitted both of them of willful homicide with a vote of 7-2.

Grech’s siblings Rita Borg and Nadesh Said have now filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court claiming their sister’s killers had gone free because of the delayed investigations and the prosecution’s failures.

The protest claims a “considerable amount” of documentation had been left out of the prosecution because of procedural errors.

Moreover, several of the witnesses had forgotten certain details of the case. This included investigators themselves who, the protest claims, also failed their obligation to have commenced investigations into the murder immediately, which had not happened.

Investigators, according to the judicial protest, also failed to have kept Grech’s family members updated on the investigation and prosecution. They are claiming a breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which includes involving the victim’s family in an investigation.

The protest warns they are willing to take the case further should just compensation not be awarded.

Lawyers Evelyn Borg Costanzi and Matthew Cutajar, and Roberto Montalto – representing Borg and Said – signed the protest.