Miseranda Antonia Grech, 16, was found naked on her marital bed in her Valletta home with 13 stab wounds to her chest. Her husband Giovanni Battista had fled the scene, leaving the murder weapon – a table knife – behind. He sought refuge in a church but soon confessed he had killed Miseranda over suspicion she had a romantic relationship with Don Lorenzo Buttigieg. The year is 1706, but the crime is one we are very familiar with in the 21st century: a woman, raped and murdered by a man. Video: Karl Andrew Micallef Over the past five years alone, women have been stabbed in the head, strangled to death and had their throats slashed by their former partner. They have also been killed with a mallet by their son and brother. Just three weeks ago, Paulina Dembska was brutally raped and murdered by a man in Sliema while feeding stray cats. The femicide, unfortunately, reminded palaeographer Vanessa Buhagiar of a series of rape and murder cases documented by the courts and preserved at the National Archives of Malta in Rabat. Paulina Dembska was brutally raped and murdered by a man in Sliema while feeding stray cats on January 2. Buhagiar is currently cataloguing the archives’...