Slain journalist's message to lawyer days before murder passed on to the police

Daphne Caruana Galizia had asked to meet her lawyer over something she was writing just nine days before the assassination in what was described as an unusual persistence

Lawyer Roberto Montalto (Photo: Andrew Borg Carbott, Xarabank)
Lawyer Roberto Montalto (Photo: Andrew Borg Carbott, Xarabank)

Lawyer Roberto Montalto has passed on two mobile phone messages he had received from Daphne Caruana Galizia to the police in the belief that they could help in the murder investigation.

Speaking on Xarabank this evening, Montalto, who had represented Caruana Galizia in some court cases said he had received a message from the journalist some nine days before she was murdered asking for a meeting. At the time Montalto was in court and could not speak to her.

"What was different on this occasion from other times when she would seek some advise was the fact that she told me that she was in Valletta and would wait for me," Montalto said. The meeting never happened because of circumstances beyond the lawyer's control.

Montalto explained that it was normal for Caruana Galizia to seek advice on something she was going to write but would not persist in her communication if he could not answer.

An emotional Montalto said he could not say whether her request to meet could be linked to the murder. However, the journalist had given him a broad indication about what she wanted to speak to him about.

Montalto did not reveal what the message contained, saying he passed it on to the police.

"Given what she wrote and what is happening around us, I felt I had to forward the messages I exchanged with her to the police," Montalto said.