Updated | Caruana Galizia murder case put off as witnesses unable to attend

George Degiorgio, his brother Alfred Degiorgio and associate Vince Muscat are back in court as the compilation of evidence against them continues on Wednesday. The three men are accused with the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Since the last sitting on 4 July, a request for bail was once again turned down. The prosecution had nine witnesses summoned to testify today however none were able to make it.

During what turned out to be very brief sitting, Inspector Keith Arnaud exhibited previous sentences handed down to George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat as evidence of their recidivism. 

After appointing a number of experts to make translations of documents and witness transcript, the case was put off to this Thursday.

10:17 The case continues on Thursday at 9:30am Paul Cocks

10:16 The sitting is over, since none of the witnesses scheduled to testify today were present in court Paul Cocks

10:03 The court is appointing a number of experts to make translations of a number of documents related to the proceedings in court and to correct witness transcripts. Paul Cocks

09:55 Inspector Keith Arnaud has exhibited copies of previous sentences handed down to the accused men as evidence on the recidivism charge. He exhibits two against George Degiorgio from 2003 and 2012, and one for Vince Muscat from 2016. Paul Cocks

09:54 The prosecution had nine witnesses summoned for today however none were able to make it. Paul Cocks

09:51 We're back in court as the compilation of evidence against the three men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia continues Paul Cocks

Witnesses who did not show up to testify were court experts, police say 

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the Police said that the witnesses slated to testify in the morning sitting and who had not turned up - leading to the sitting having to be postponed - were court experts and not police officers, as reported by certain media and in some posts on social media.

"The Police, through its prosecutors, were present in Court and exhibited further evidence and requested the Court to appoint Experts to make translations of documents already exhibited as evidence," the statement read. "None of its officials were called to testify and/or failed to show up."

The police said that the court experts had informed the prosecution that they couldn’t show up for Tuesday's sitting either because they were still compiling their report or because they were caught on other urgent court-related matters.

FACTS OF THE CASE

The accused 

• George Degiorgio 55, unemployed, lives in St Paul's Bay, known as Ic-Ciniz
• Alfred Degiorgio, 53, unemployed lives in St Paul's Bay, known as il-Fulu
• Vincent Muscat, 55, unemployed lives in Msida, known as il-Kohhu

The courtroom players 

• Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit is presiding
• Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra are prosecuting
• Deputy attorney general Philip Galea Farrugia is assiting the prosecution
• Martin Fenech is appearing for Vince Muscat
• William Cuschieri and Martha Mifsud are appearing for Alfred Degiorgio
• Josette Sultana is appearing for George Degiorgio
• Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing parte civile for the Caruana Galizia family

What we know 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 device

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

Other facts

• Alfred Degiorgio's DNA matched that found on a cigarette butt, which was picked up from the Victoria Lines
• Police say Alfred Degiorgio was the spotter monitoring the Caruana Galizia household and is believed to have remained all night at the vantage point
• Alfred called his brother George Degiorgio to inform him Caruana Galizia had left the house
• The call lasted 107 seconds, which is the time it takes to drive from the house to where the bomb exploded
• After detonating the bomb by SMS, George Degiorgio messaged his wife with the words: "Buy me wine, my love."
• George Degiorgio had been telling people the day before the murder that he was going fishing
• After the incident George was heard boasting "I've caught two big fish today"
• Though unemployed, the Degiorgio brothers each owned a boat and luxury cars
• Europol experts accompanied Malta police investigations and searches when the three men were arrested