No clue as to why New Year’s Day murder investigation still not closed – forensic expert

Veteran forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici believes he can visualise what happened at the scene of the horrific New Year's Day double-murder that plunged Malta in the heart of one of the most talked about tragedies of the year.

But to this day, he has no idea as to why police investigations have dragged on for 12 months with no inkling as to what happened on the fateful day that left father of two Duncan Zammit and his alleged assailant Nicholas Gera dead.

"I had offered my services to the police at the time, but they weren't taken up," the veteran expert who saw much action during the troubled years of political violence in the 1980s, said.

Abela Medici, who is now retired, says he believes he can reconstruct the events leading to the fatal stabbing of the two men.

"I think I can construct what could have happened but it is not my place to speculate on the media," he told Radju Malta presenter Andrew Azzopardi on Ghandi Xi Nghid.

"I can visualise what happened because after having worked for so long in this field, I get a sort of 'second feeling' as to what happened. The police surely can come down to their conclusions - there is no problem with that."

But when asked whether it was normal that such a high-profile investigation drags on for 12 months, Abela Medici sounded lost for words.

"I cannot understand why it is taking so long... unless there are other issues involved," he said.

The autopsy of both bodies has revealed that Zammit, 32, and Gera, 26, suffered multiple stab wounds, both to the front of their upper torso and necks.

Zammit's wife Claire Zammit Xuereb - the daughter of entrepreneur Anglu Xuereb, claimed that Gera, whom she said she had never known, was allegedly armed with two knives when he attacked her husband in their bedroom early on New Year's Day.

The main question being posed is why Gera, who on New Year's Eve worked his last shift at a Paceville restaurant, 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.

The alleged assault is believed to have started when Gera broke into the Zammits' penthouse at around 6am. The tragedy became the subject of wild speculation as to why the Bosnian-born Gera, had killed Zammit.

The police have ruled out any sexual link between the Gera and Zammit, and no links between either family were established.

The police analysed the traffic, but not content, of some 35,000 voice calls and mobile phone messages made by Zammit, Claire Zammit Xuereb and Gera over the past nine months in 2011 but nothing connected the two parties. Even personal computers and travel plans were investigated.

Zammit and Gera died of multiple stab wounds, after Gera entered the penthouse after jumping onto a terrace from the roof of an adjacent apartment block. A fight then broke out in the bedroom where the Zammits slept with their twins. The two knives used in the fight were taken from the kitchen.

Police have not confirmed whether Claire Zammit Xuereb's fingerprints were on one of the knives, possibly used to defend her husband.