‘Dear Bernice’: University Of Malta Plans Vigil For Murder Victim And Asks Attendees To Wear Purple
The University of Malta (UoM) has planned a vigil for Malta’s latest victim of domestic violence, Bernice Cassar, who graduated from the university over a decade ago.
“On that day in November 2005, when you celebrated your graduation, who would have predicted that you would have become a victim of femicide?”
“Rest in peace, dear Bernice. You have exposed how gender-based violence is never too far from the heart of where we live,” the event page reads.
The vigil will be held on Monday 28th November at 12pm at the entrance to the main library.
The university further encouraged all students and staff in attendance to wear purple – a colour associated with the fierce fight against domestic violence – as an act of solidarity with survivors.
Bernice was a student at UoM, graduating with a Bachelor in Communications and writing a dissertation titled Policewomen in the Media. Bernice even won an award for that research, according to her former supervisor Mary Muscat.
Bernice’s name has also been added to the KSU bench that stands as a heartbreaking reminder of all the victims killed through gender-based violence in Malta.
Bernice was a 40-year-old mother of two who spent the last six months pleading for protection, but less than a day after her last domestic violence report, she was shot and killed by her alleged murderer – her husband Roderick Cassar.
Her death has triggered national uproar and collective despair at Malta’s judicial system and protective forces which indirectly allowed this tragedy to occur.
Several NGOs, politicians and citizens have called out the system and urged the government to make serious changes so that victims don’t need to “report when something happens” before the police act on serious death threats.
Will you be attending the vigil?
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