Bernard Grech pens moving message for slain cousin Karin Grech

“I wish I had known you more. I wish I could have enjoyed your company more but as you know, every day that has passed since they took you away I have carried sorrow in my heart and a yearning for the truth.”

These are the closing words of a short message Opposition leader Bernard Grech dedicated to his cousin Karin grech, on the 47th anniversary of her brutal murder. She was killed on 28 December 1977.

Karin was 15 when she opened a parcel addressed to her father, the late Edwin Grech, that contained a bomb, which exploded the moment she started unwrapping it. Karin sustained massive injuries and died sometime later in hospital. Her 10-year-old brother was also injured in the blast.

Police have always believed the letter bomb was linked to the 1977 dispute that doctors had with the Labour government of the time. Edwin Grech was a gynaecologist and had returned from the UK to offer his services at St Luke’s Hospital in defiance of strike action ordered by the Medical Association of Malta.

Prof. Grech had been socially ostracised by his medical peers for being a strike breaker. No one has ever been charged with the murder of Karin Grech and the case remains unresolved till this very day.

Bernard Grech is Karin Grech’s first cousin. In a Facebook post on Saturday, he recalled that the Christmas of 47 years ago was the first time he had met Karin. “Three days later, a vile person took your life away,” he wrote.

“Even though a lot of time has passed, I still believe that this chapter in Malta’s political history and which wounded a family forever, can only be closed if this murder – like every other political murder in Malta – is solved, and the person or persons who committed this barbaric act are brought to justice,” Grech wrote.

“Rest in peace, my dear,” he added, expressing his wish to have known his cousin more.

Edwin Grech, who went on to become a Labour MP and minister, never stopped fighting for the truth to emerge but died in March 2023 not knowing who killed his daughter.

ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci and Secretary General Ralph Cassar paid tribute to Karin Grech (Photo: ADPD)

On Saturday, ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci and Secretary General Ralph Cassar laid flowers at the foot of the Karin Grech memorial in San Gwann as they paid their respects to all the victims of political violence.

"Such happenings should remind us of the need to work to uphold the rule of rule and maintain the need for continuous political dialogue, especially where ideas differ. Such dialogue should be done in a mature manner, using language that inspires cooperation and solution seeking," Gauci said.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Robert Abela yesterday laid flowers at the foot of the memorial.