Karin Grech

Karin Maria Grech (1962 – 28 December 1977) was the daughter of Professor Edwin Grech, then head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke's Hospital, Malta.

In 1977, aged 15, she was killed by a letterbomb addressed to her father. In the presence of her brother Kevin (then 10 years old), she opened the package, which she thought to be a present since it was covered in wrapping paper. The bomb exploded, and she died half an hour later at St. Luke's Hospital, due to severe burns on various parts of her body. At her funeral Mass, Archbishop Mikiel Gonzi called the murder of Karin Grech "the first terrorist act in the country".

1977 doctors' strike

At that time the doctors at Saint Luke's Hospital had an issue with the Labour Government and there was a strike at the hospital. Despite this Grech still went to work, and although there is no forensic evidence linking the bomb to the doctors' strike, the strike and persons related to those events were blamed. On the same day that the Grech family received the bomb, another bomb was sent to the doctor and then-Labour MP Paul Chetcuti Caruana, but it did not detonate.

Monuments and memorials Karin Grech Hospital, Guardamangia Hill, Pietà (built 1981 near St. Luke's Hospital) Karin Grech Garden, San Ġwann, where a sculpture of her is located.