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[LIVE] Daphne Caruana Galizia murder | Court rules accused can stand trial
Follow us live here for a blow-by-blow account of the compilation of evidence against George and Alfred Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat for the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
Last updated on 21 December 2017, 10:57am
Kurt Sansone
Kurt Sansone
3 min read
One of the suspects arraigned in court on charges of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia
Heavily-armed police officers are escorting the accused
Security with the accused is tight
Wednesday's sitting Daphne Caruana Galizia murder | Man who triggered bomb heard the explosion live on brother's phone
WHAT WE LEARNT SO FAR
Caruana Galizia’s car
- The Peugeot car Daphne Caruana Galizia was driving at the time had been leased four months before
- Her son Matthew Caruana Galizia had occasionally used the car in the period
- Matthew was the last person to have parked the car outside the gate of the family’s Bidnija home
- Investigators dismantled a similar model of the car to determine whether any debris collected from the crime scene was extraneous
- This led the police to discover the presence of an electronic board, which was part of the SIM card dock on the explosive devic
The ‘small white car’
- A person who spoke to the police had noticed a “small white car” frequenting a particular area at Tat-Targa Battery, part of the Victoria Lines
- On the day of the murder the white car was there but unlike previous occasions the driver was not inside
- Police noticed that next to where the car used to be parked part of a wall had collapsed and led to a place with a birds-eye view of Bidnija
- Forensic experts combed the area for any clues, including cigarette butts
- After the murder, the car was never seen again
- Given Caruana Galizia did not have a fixed pattern of movement, police believe someone was shadowing her movements
The detonator
- Location data from the Bidnija area led the police to home in on a number that received an SMS at 2.58pm and stopped broadcasting thereafter
- The number was linked to an electronic device normally found in appliances that can be activated remotely
- This device acted as the detonator of the car bomb
- The device was switched on in the Bidnija area at around 2am on 16 October
- It remained in a static location for the day until it received an SMS and disappeared
The killer SMS
- The SMS that triggered the bomb was sent from a Nokia 105 mobile phone connected to the cell tower near the YMCA in Valletta
- This phone was switched on, on the day of the explosion and started broadcasting from a cell ID near the Curia
- The signal moved to Paceville, Senglea, Rinella, Zabbar and Xghajra as it bounced from cell towers north and south of the country every hour
- The cell towers all faced seawards that led police to suspect the mobile phone was on a boat circling the island
- The number linked to the detonator and the number that sent the SMS had been set up in November 2016 and had only corresponded with each other on three occasions
The pleasure boats
- The Degiorgio brothers both own pleasure boats
- CCTV footage showed that one of them – the Maya – was spotted leaving the Grand Harbour at around 8am before turning north
- At the time the killer SMS was sent, the Maya was spotted under the Great Siege Bell area, where it stopped for a few minutes before heading towards Marsa
The top up call
- The Secret Service had intercepted a call from George Degiorgio’s phone, asking the recipient to top him up with €5
- The person was unable to and Degiorgio called another person, asking the same question “Don’t take long, if you can,” Degiorgio told the person
- The person complied and minutes later topped up the number identified by George Degiorgio
- Police obtained call profiles relating to George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat
- All mobile numbers involved were activated within 20 minutes of each other – two were activated in Senglea and the third in Hamrun
Kurt Sansone is Executive Editor of MaltaToday.
He was formerly deputy editor of MaltaTod...
Scerri says the footage is clear. The footage has also been presented to the court.
Scerri is being asked how he could have recognised George Degiorgio from such a distance. Fenech asks whether Scerri knew George Degiorgio.
Scerri says he did not know him personally but knew who George Degiorgio was through his 12 years’ experience in the police corps.
An Audi A4 grey was searched. It belongs to George Degiorgio. Four USB sticks were elevated and a router that was in the car booth. The cars were impounded by the police.
Scerri also spoke to a resident who had noted a suspicious car that used to be parked with someone inside at the tat-Targa Battery overlooking Bidnija.
On the day of the murder, the car was parked in its direction towards Mgarr, which probably meant it came on site from the Most side. [
After the murder the car was never seen again in the area.
On 23 October Scerri analysed the CCTV cameras at Exiles where Matthew Caruana Galizia parked his car to determine whether there was any suspicious movement around it.
On 25 October, CCTV footage was elevated from the Grand Harbour area. A particular boat caught the police's attention. On 23 November Scerri said he filmed the same boat as it entered the Grand Harbour in the direction towards Marsa.
The boat was a Wellcraft Martinique 200 by the name Maya piloted by George Degiorgio.
On 18 October, Gerada was also present for the meeting with Matthew Caruana Galizia.
Matthew had gone for a coffee with his mother at Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar. The car was parked in the Trade Fair grounds. Matthew later drove the car to Exiles. Gerada later met farmers and hunters in the Bidnija area but nothing resulted from these meetings.