Maksar gang trial: Koħħu cannot remember details when pressed on conflicting testimony

Sitting concludes

That concludes today's sitting. The cross-examination will continue tomorrow at 9:00am.

'Maybe I forgot about some things and then remembered them'

Muscat is asked why he never mentioned the Maksar brothers’ Villa before testifying in 2021. He is also confronted on his previous statement that he did not know how much money the brothers owed Carmel Chircop. “I don’t think I made it up now,” Muscat says. 

The defence questions how it’s possible that Muscat seems to remember more details the more time passes. Muscat maintains that he always knew the details of the case, but said it was possible that he did not remember certain things at different points in time. “Maybe I forgot some things and then remembered them”

Questions arise about attempt to bring document to prison

The defence asks Muscat whether he excludes that his lawyer tried to pass him a paper in prison. Muscat responds that the guards always check anything he is brought to prison, including photos of his family. It is understood that Muscat’s lawyer is his daughter.

Vince Muscat questions his own transcript

The defence is reading out a transcript of Muscat’s interrogation where he apparently asked inspector Keith Arnaud to suggest to him what else he can add to the testimony. 

“The inspector wanted information from me not the other way around,” Muscat says. “Exactly,” the defence responds, “these transcripts are your words, they didn’t fall out of the sky.”

The defence asks whether Muscat remembers asking the court to give him the transcript of what he had stated in previous sittings, but the witness cannot recall this.

Upon trying to ask a question about a previous comment he made during the cross-examination by the previous lawyer, the prosecution objected. The defence insists that there are four men accused and each one of them has their own defence team. 

The judge states that although she understands this situation, the defence must act as one, and questions cannot be repeated, and so the question must be altered so it is not exactly the same

'If it wasn't for me the case wouldn't be solved'

Muscat is asked whether he remembers the year when he first spoke to the police about the Carmel Chircop murder but he cannot recall. When the defence suggests that this was in January 2020, he cannot confirm.

He says that he cannot remember whether it was in 2018 or 2020. 

The defence is stopped as the court tells the lawyer that he is asking the same questions as those that were already asked by other members of the defence. 

Muscat is questioned on the obligations of the pardon he received for Chircop’s murder, as he responds that he must speak about the facts as they are. The defence says that another condition is that he must speak about the facts without changing versions. “Did you speak the same truth?” the defence asks. “I said the whole truth. If it wasn’t for me, the (Carmel Chircop) case wouldn’t be solved.”

“If you weren’t there in the first place we wouldn’t be here because of two murders because they would’ve been alive,” the defence snaps back

The cross-examination continues.

The sitting has been suspended until 5:00pm.

Defence accuses Muscat of trying to bring papers in CCF

The defence asks why Muscat refused to give his DNA to the police upon his arrest, as Muscat responds, “I had a right not to give it.” 

On the mobile phone that the Degiorgio brothers had in prison, Muscat says that as far as he knew, Alfred used it to contact Melvin Theuma.

Muscat is once again being confronted on his requests to have the transcripts from his previous testimonies, as the defence notes his continuous change in statements. The defence is accusing the witness of attempting to bring papers into the Corradino Correctional Facility before being stopped by the guards. 

Muscat maintains that he took €50,000 for the Caruana Galizia murder

The defence turns its attention to the day before Caruana Galizia’s murder. That day he was with his partner when received a call about Caruana Galizia. He explains that when he was phoned, he was shocked, went to the potato shed for a garage key, and took the bomb from the Santa Venera garage to Bidnija, and then the Naxxar garage. 

He is asked whether he is certain that he pocketed €50,000 for the murder, to which he responds that he is absolutely certain. But according to his interrogation transcript with the police in 2020, Muscat had told the police that he only pocketed €10,000. “I took €50,000 your honour,” he repeats.

The defence is asking Muscat if the hitmen ever requested information from Chris Cardona after the murder. Muscat states that Cardona was only ever mentioned by Alfred Degiorgio.

‘Everyone had key to Naxxar garage’

Vince Muscat is now being asked about the rental car used in the Caruana Galizia murder. The defence reminds him that before renting a small white car, the hitmen used a “long” Peugeot vehicle. The witness cannot recall how long they used the first vehicle, but they had used it for a few days. 

On the Naxxar garage, the witness says that there was a key left at the potato shed and that the hitmen and the accused had access to it in case they needed to use the garage.

The defence now turns to the rental car used by the hitmen to practice opening Caruana Galizia’s car. Muscat says that he took Alfred Degiorgio to pick up the rental car in Buġibba and they both went to the potato shed.

‘I had never seen a bomb before’

The defence questions why the Maksar brothers would leave the bomb floating under an upside down boat rather than the garage that the hitmen had access to. Muscat says that he cannot know the reason why it was placed under the boat.

Muscat says that either Robert Agius or Jamie Vella told the hitmen that the battery in the bomb would not run out of charge quickly.

The witness is once again describing the bomb, as he is asked whether he is certain that the bomb came with a mobile phone. He maintains that next to the bomb, there was a mobile phone.

The defence asks how he was able to know that the bomb looked foreign as he had previously testified. Muscat says that he had heard that the bomb was imported and that he had never seen a bomb before. 

Conflicting versions of how Daphne bomb ended up in Naxxar

The defence is now focussing on the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia and the other bombs that arrived in Malta alongside it. Vince Muscat is referred to a transcript of his testimony in separate proceedings about the bomb, but he doesn’t remember saying that. 

The transcript shows Muscat testifying that the bombs were brought to Malta a month after Romeo Bone was critically injured by a car bomb. In that testimony, Muscat says that one of the bombs was for Bone. In court, Muscat notes that it couldn’t have been for Bone. 

The defence notes that Muscat earlier told the court that the first time he saw the bomb was in the Naxxar garage. During an interrogation quoted by the defence, Muscat confirmed that the bomb was first seen by him in the garage in Naxxar. But the defence reminds him that he had also testified that the bomb was taken to Naxxar by Muscat and Alfred Degiorgio after they collected it from under an upside down boat near the potato shed.

Another statement given by Muscat to Keith Arnaud states that he first saw the bomb in a farmhouse belonging to Jamie Vella.

Muscat doesn’t remember what car was used to move the bomb either.

Welcome back

The cross-examination of Vince Muscat is about to continue.

The sitting has been suspended until 3:00pm for a short break.

Defence questions how the hitmen acquired car, rifles

Muscat says that as time passed, Theuma would press Alfred Degiorgio almost every day to get the job done. According to Muscat, Theuma said that a story would soon be published, and if it was published, the murder would fall through. 

Pressed by the defence, the witness says that he cannot remember if Theuma ever spoke to him about the murder directly. He repeats “I don’t remember” multiple times when confronted on previous statements he made which seem to show that he had spoken to Theuma.

Muscat now speaks about a stolen car that was kept in a garage and was meant to be used in the murder, but he cannot remember where this was stolen from. Neither can he remember how it was brought to the garage. 

The witness says that the hitmen collected the deposit for the murder after the 2017 election. However, he doesn’t remember when rifles that were meant to be used for the Caruana Galizia murder were acquired. “I cannot remember everything,” he tells the court.

The defence notes that when he testified in the case against the Degiorgio brothers, Muscat said that when Theuma started pressing the hitmen, they were already in possession of the rifles. The witness says that he first saw the rifles in the Naxxar garage, and that the hitmen found them there. 

He explains that he assumes that the Agius brothers brought the three rifles after the Degiorgios told them that they were needed. When asked by the prosecution, Muscat says that the rifles were tested in Żebbuġ at a certain Salvu who sells ġbejniet. 

The defence notes that this was the first time this Salvu was mentioned. Muscat is read out his own transcript where he had stated that the guns were tested at Jamie Vella’s residence

‘Jamie Vella knew where Caruana Galizia lived’

Muscat is asked about a previously abandoned plan to kill Caruana Galizia between 2014 and 2015. He says that the police never questioned him about this plan.

The witness explains that Jamie Vella told the assassins that he knew where she lived.

The defence is asking about differences between the witness’s previous statement about the original plan to kill Caruana Galizia. Muscat says he doesn’t remember.

Muscat cannot recall whether he ever stalked Caruana Galizia by himself, saying that Alfred Degiorgio would surely do this because he lived in St Paul’s Bay.

Muscat wasn’t present during meetings between Melvin Theuma and Alfred Degiorgio

Muscat is now being asked about the plan to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia, confirming that it was Melvin Theuma who approached first with the plan. 

He explains that Theuma spoke with Alfred Degiorgio at the Marsa potato shed, however, Muscat wasn’t there at first. According to Muscat, Darren Debono known as “It-Topo” informed the hitmen that Melvin Theuma had a big job for them.

The defence is referring to Muscat’s interrogation transcript, where he told investigators that Melvin Theuma came to the potato shed in his taxi and asked him to tell Alfred Degiorgio to meet up with him at the Busy Bee outlet in Msida.

Muscat says that himself and Alfred Degiorgio went to speak with Theuma before the 2017 election. He explains that he wasn’t present during meetings between Theuma and Alfred when they discussed the murder and its commission. So he says that the details of what was said during the meeting would be communicated to him by Alfred. 

“Do you know if he was lying to you?” the prosecution asks, to which Muscat says that he cannot know.

Court is back in session. 

Vince Muscat will continue his cross-examination.

Time for a short break

The sitting has been halted for a short break. 

It will continue at around 11:30am.

Muscat stresses that he was paid €20,000

Muscat is asked where the Agius brothers were on the day of Carmel Chircop’s murder, but he says that he doesn’t know. On his €20,000 payment, Muscat says that he is absolutely certain that that was the commission he was paid for the murder.

But the defence notes that Muscat had told investigators that he wasn’t sure about the sum, quoting €20,000 and €30,000 during his interrogation. The witness explains that he was paid €5,000 before the murder and €15,000 after, while another €5,000 was handed to him at a later date.

The witness is confronted with a previous statement he made to a magistrate which contradicts this. The defence reads out Muscat’s transcript from a previous court sitting where the breakdown of the €20,000 is different.

'I don't remember' uttered more than 80 times

The defence is bringing to the court’s attention that Muscat has stated “I don’t remember” more than 80 times during his testimony, asking the court to remind him that he is under oath. 

The judge scorned defence lawyer Ishmael Psaila, saying he is in no place to tell the court what to do, and that it is impossible for her to tell Muscat that he is under oath every time he says that he doesn’t remember. 

Defence blasts Muscat’s memory loss

The defence asks about the disposal of the murder weapon, which according to Muscat, was thrown into the sea near the Tiger Bar in Marsa. Muscat’s previous testimony confirms this, but he had only stated that “someone” threw it there without identifying who that was.

The defence is blasting the witness for “testifying one thing and then losing memory,” as he is floundering on questions regarding the colour of Carmel Chircop’s car, where the lawyer was when he died, and the masks used by the killers during the shooting.

Muscat is asked what became of the masks after the murder, he says that they were discarded in a skip. 

'Jamie Vella always brought the weapons'

The witness is now being questioned on his role in the Chircop murder, as the defence finds it hard to believe that he was paid €20,000 to simply ride along with the alleged killers. 

The defence is also pressing the witness over discrepancies in testimonies regarding whether or not the car used in the murder was left running. When shown a diagram of where the car was positioned during the murder, Muscat says that the diagram is inaccurate, but he cannot recall exact details. 

Muscat is told that the diagram was drawn in front of him, but he can’t remember this.

Asked about the weapons, Muscat says that Jamie Vella was the one who used to acquire weapons, explaining that the accused was an enthusiast. But when asked how he is certain that the murder weapon was brought by Vella, Muscat states that, “He was the one that brought weapons.”

But previous testimony read out by the defence sheds doubt on this. “Jame Vella takes care of the weapons,” he insists.

Muscat hazy on details of Chircop murder

The witness is further pressed on the cars used in the Chircop murder. When asked why previous testimony he had given contradicts the most recent testimony, he says that he cannot remember. 

The defence asks how the passengers in the car on the way to the murder were seated, as Muscat places himself in the back seat. The witness is confronted with a previous statement where he had stated that he rode in the front passenger seat, and was then told to go to the back. Asked to explain the discrepancy, Muscat doesn’t remember. 

Muscat now explains that after the murder, Jamie Vella was meant to “take care of the weapons” and scrap the car. But the defence shows that in his interrogation, Muscat could not recall who had disposed of the car. 

The defence questions how “Il-Koħħu” can recall the details of the case now, but could not remember facts a few years after the shooting. “I don’t remember,” he repeats

Defence questions testimony regarding AK-47

Muscat has entered the courtroom.

The witness is asked about the plan to kill Charmel Chircop. He is reminded of his previous testimony, specifically the AK-47 that was placed by his feet in the car used in the murder. 

Muscat is confronted with a transcript of his 2020 interrogation where he explained what weapons were in the car, where the AK-47 was never mentioned. Another transcript of previous testimony suggests that there were only two guns.

Muscat maintains that the AK-47 was brought by Jamie Vella, saying that he remembers it clearly. When asked whether he ever fired a weapon, Muscat says that he is only here to testify about the Chircop murder. 

Good morning. 

Journalists, the judge, and jurors are in the courtroom. The sitting is expected to begin soon with the continuation of testimony from Vince Muscat known as "Il-Koħħu."