Among hundreds of comments, including one man telling us that “so if you are afraid you be raped then take the pill or before he rapes you offer him a condom” and another to “padlock your pussy” two men in their twenties sent us the following:

“Shoots these bitches in the head one by one facing each other.”

Four years after the incident, the young women who filed the report were finally given a court case in April 2022. The case has now been moved to 2024.

Meanwhile, a Maltese comedian has been charged by police for making a joke about a questionable pastor’s public anal sex ramblings.  A satirist was slapped with charges for his “carpet bombing” joke. Malta’s national theatre artist director gets charged for defending them.

Gordon Manché, who is filing police reports like Oprah Winfrey gives away free cars, is attacking artists, the pillars of society’s freedom of speech, and leaving them to deal with interrogations, court cases, court delays, legal fees and all.

This pattern is increasingly worrying for free speech, especially when it’s coming from people like Gordon Manché, who says things like “God did not make you gay” in broad daylight.

Also, if the police have gotten so efficient at immediately charging people like Dan Xuereb, Matt Bonnano and Sean Buhagiar, then why did it take four years for police to charge the two men who threatened to graphically murder five young women?

Court delays and institutional incompetencies are real reasons why people are afraid or discouraged from reporting real threats like this. And now, to add to the injury, a pastor gone rogue is acting like some kind of punishing God, using the freedom of speech laws against those who exercise their right.

I hope Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri is true to his words when he says they will look into these absurd, comedy-killing laws as soon as possible. In the meantime, let’s make sure real threats to life are not lost in years of waiting.

What do you think about this case?