Valletta Had The Highest Rate Of Domestic Violence Reported So Far This Year
Malta’s capital Valletta is also the epicentre of domestic violence on the island, at least according to data presented to Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri.
The minister was responding to a question put to him by Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami, who requested a breakdown of domestic violence cases and the localities in which they occurred.
Camilleri tabled statistics covering the period between January 2021 and the end of August during which 1,151 domestic violence incidents were reported.
According to the data, Saint Paul’s Bay was the locality with the highest number of reports, with 90 cases reported in the first eight months of the year.
Taking the population of each locality into account to calculate a domestic violence rate per 10,000 inhabitants, Valletta rises to the top of the ranking, with 65 cases reported per 10,000 inhabitants, followed by Bormla with 60 cases.
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Domestic violence is a major problem, and while awareness has increased in recent years, the situation remains dire.
Last year, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis revealed in Parliament that between 2017 and 2020 989 cases of domestic violence had been reported.
However, it was only 42 cases that actually resulted in a guilty verdict, with the majority listed as having been “exhausted”.
There could be several reasons for this, including victims refusing to testify against their aggressor, or even withdrawing their complaint.
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