The
Murder of Baron Francis Sant Cassia,
a
premeditated and infallible murder
By John Pisani
Edited and placed in English by Mark Caruana.
The murderer of
Baron Francis Sant Cassia, who was 68 years old when murdered, planned the
crime with precision. Up till today, the police still have no clue about this
murder. The plan of action was
perfect. His son John believes that his
father’s murder was a plot to shut him up.
It happened on
Why did Sant Cassia
leave his residence at Kastell Zammitello in Imgarr in a hurry? Did the murderer know that the Baron would
leave home at that time and was he hiding and waiting for him?
He who fired the
weapon was sure of himself. He shot only
once, one lead bullet in the head of Sant Cassia who was dead on the spot. No one heard anything. No one saw any thing.
Although the motive
for the murder of Francis Sant Cassia was never officially released, the theory
stated was that the Baron was killed as he had property worth millions of
pounds. John Sant Cassia, the son of the
victim, firmly believes that this property was worth close to 90 million
Maltese pounds. His father was a threat
to someone who knew of committing tax evasion by the person who stole a number
of land holdings belonging to the Sant Cassia family.
The victim’s son shows much interest
Baron and Count John Sant Cassia
When John Sant
Cassia spoke to a colleague Joe Mifsud, John told him in no uncertain terms
that “his father was killed to stop him
from talking”. John, who lives in
England, had for a long time put pressure on the Malta Police and the Malta
Government not only to solve this case, but that the truth be known why his
father was a threat to the person who stole a number of land holdings from the
Sant Cassia family and persons he knew had evaded thousands of pounds in tax.
John Sant Cassia
described the pressure he exerted by likening it to a battle. He said that for the first four weeks he had
full co-operation from the authorities in
Thereafter, John
Sant Cassia alleged that he got nothing but trouble, even threats. John Sant
Cassia made a serious allegation but did so with great responsibility: “Yes, I believe that in
After the murder of
his father, Sant Cassia returned to
He described this
meeting as one that did not impress him at all, so much so that even his cousin
was also unimpressed with what the Police had to say, in spite of the fact that
Cachia Caruana was already very close to the then Prime Minister, Eddie Fenech
Adami.
John Sant Cassia
was quoted as saying that to hide the truth there were persons who even lied to
the investigating magistrate during the enquiry.
He said he has
proof of all this in his possession and is prepared to pass on this information
to the magistrate. But he is surprised
how the investigating magistrate, Carol Peralta, was never allowed to go to
John is still
prepared to meet the magistrate, as long as it is not in
A short time before
the murder, the Baron revealed to his son and showed him documents that showed
that land at Gzira, Imriehel, tax-Xbiex, Birzebbuga and Zurrieq were taken from
the family and these lands were sold to third persons without them knowing it
was stolen land.
The Baron Sant
Cassia has already started making some type of research to find out where such
land ended up with whom. It is
understood that the Baron was successful in obtaining some relevant documents
during his research.
These documents show
that there was a contract made in 1686 at Beneditto Vassallo where it is
written that the land cannot be sold, exchanged or loaned.
According to police sources
About 4 or 5 years
ago, during the time of Police Commissioner George Grech, police from Scotland Yard
came to
They studied the
case well and saw how far the Malta Police went in their investigations. They carefully examined all the files and
even asked that the reports written in Maltese be translated very accurately in
English. It is understood that the
English investigators were satisfied at the way the Malta Police investigated
the murder. But the sources we spoke to
admitted that they did not see the final report by the police.
During the
investigations, the police found that this murder was imbued with several
motives, but no motive was strong enough so that the Police would have
something of substance.
In regard to the
bullet that was fired and the lead it contained that killed the Baron, the
sources said that the Police found many bullets in the vicinity as that area was a bird-shooting location. It is a fact that Sant Cassia was killed with
one shot, but in the surroundings there were many spent bullets and it was not
possible to establish which of the bullets was the one that was shot at the
Baron Sant Cassia. Maybe the only thing
established in this case is that the weapon that was used was a hunting rifle.
From this, the
forensic experts determined 16 years ago that they were sure that there was
someone who knew very well how to use a hunting rifle. Because of this certainty several hunting
persons were called up who had a registered hunting rifle in their name for
whatever reason and who maybe had a prior police notification. According to the same sources it seems that
for this case to be resolved some day, there needs to be someone who makes
contact or admits to this murder, or someone, or some persons, reveals or gives
some very good clues.
What the Police told us in an official way
Yet again, the
answer by the Police was the same as when we asked beforehand. “This
case is still being investigated. At
this stage there have been no new developments and when there will be some new
developments, we will inform you” said the Head of the Department of
Criminal Investigations (DIK), the Assistant Commissioner Manuel Cassar.
Original
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