Sliema double murder | Zammit’s wife yet to be questioned

In the media circus that has landed upon the bizarre New Year's Day tragedy that left two young men dead, speculation on the motive of the double-murder has been fuelled by the claims of both families that father of two Duncan Zammit, 32, and his assailant, the "shy and reserved" Nicholas Gera, 26, did not know each other.

But as various newspaper organisations source their police leads, the main question being posed is why Gera - who on New Year's Eve worked his last shift at a Paceville restaurant and clocked off at 2:30am before allegedly crowning off the night at the Muddy Waters bar in St Julian's - decided to go to Zammits' penthouse in Sliema early on Sunday morning.

The most startling revelations will now centre on a previous connection between Zammit and Gera.

Labour organ maltastar.com are openly pushing the theory that is being considered by police investigators, that with the botched burglary being ruled out Zammit and Gera must have know each other - "intimately" according to the e-newspaper.

It further intimates the existence of a previous relationship when it says the young Gera resented the fact that Zammit, the father of three-month-old twins, "wanted to spend more time with the family".

The crime of passion theory would have the unarmed Gera walking up to Falcon House, on High Street - just a few minutes away from his Blanche Huber apartment where he grew up with his adopted brothers - getting access to the unlocked rooftop, and then jump onto the penthouse's terrace.

From here, he would have made his way into the kitchen, from where he picked up the knife, and look for Zammit.

But the police found two knives, a point on which General Workers Union newspaper l-orizzont has focused, putting Zammit's wife Claire on the spot: "It looks like Claire Zammit Xuereb went into the kitchen for the second knife and used it to defend her husband from Gera's aggression" - this would concord with the Times's report that Zammit was attacked in bed, where he been asleep with his wife and twins.

Police are working on the fact that no traces of blood were found between the kitchen and the bedroom.

Toxicology analyses may also determine the state of mind of Nicholas Gera, whom according to The Times was seen by eyewitnesses at Muddy Waters acting "a nuisance" and eventually being asked to leave after annoying some women.

Both the Zammit and Gera families remain unaware as to how the two men knew each other: according to Zammit's father-in-law, entrepreneur Angelo Xuereb, mobile phone records analysed by the police show no connection between the two.

The night before Zammit hosted a party for the couple's parents at their apartment, and then drove his parents home in Tigné at 1am. Zammit's father-in-law, entrepreneur Angelo Xuereb, was called by his daughter at 6:30 am.

Duncan Zammit and Nicholas Gera bled to death after receiving multiple stab wounds, a brief statement on the autopsy by police said. Zammit suffered over 20 stab wounds, Gera over 10.

With multiple neck wounds, it is believed both Zammit and Gera faced each other in the stabbing, because no wounds in the back were registered in the autopsy.