Man arrested in connection with Mosta animal hangings

Police inspectors Edmond Cuschieri and Joseph Busuttil will later on today arraign a 37-year-old man from Mosta, Nicholas Grech, in connection with the hanging of dog and cat carcasses after over two years of the mock crucifixions taking place in Mosta.

Yesterday District Police raided the residence of the suspect, an Enemalta engineer, in Triq Glormu Cassar, Mosta, and found incriminating evidence. In his computer, the police found photos and other evidence related to the hangings. He was arrested and taken to the Mosta Police Station.

The man lived with both his parents.

MaltaToday is informed that the man was recently given a warning by superiors at Enemalta for leaking an internal email about the arrival of a delegation from Shanghai Power Electric, to the blog of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

After a long interrogation it is now being alleged that the man admitted that he was responsible for the hanging of the animals but not for the killings.

Around 1am the man was taken to the lock-up at the Police Headquarters in Floriana. Sources told MaltaToday that the man used to go around with his bike to look for dead cats, not just around Mosta but even in other villages.

The first case goes back to 16 October 2011 and since then, the crucifixions took place intermittently on the 16th day of the month. There were a few months when no cases reported. The last case was last month when on the 3 February, 2014, when the police found a dog and cat hung upside down at the side and on the front of the Mosta Church.

A running theme throughout the crucifixions was a connection to Frangisku Buhagiar, an octogenarian who served time for the murder of his sister in the house they shared in Mosta. The first crucified cat was hung outside the house where the murder took place; the other crucificied animals were all placed on religious statues and similar monuments. The last crucifixion was placed outside the Mosta parish church, but one of the two hung animals was placed on a statue of St Philip, which bears an inscription with Buhagiar's name - who had donated the money for its restoration.