The trial by jury of four men charged with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Carmel Chircop enters its sixth day on Wednesday morning.
The Tal-Maksar brothers, Robert and Adrian Agius, and their associates Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio stand accused of involvement in the murders.
Jamie Vella and Robert Agius are facing charges of complicity in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, allegedly for providing the bomb used in her killing in October 2017.
Adrian Agius is separately accused of ordering the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop, a crime that prosecutors claim was carried out in collaboration with Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio, who are both charged with executing the killing.
George Degiorgio is already serving a 40-year prison sentence, along with his brother Alfred, after both admitted to planting and detonating the explosive device that killed Caruana Galizia.
All four men facing trial deny the charges against them.
Yesterday’s sitting, saw Melchior Spiteri, an inmate serving time at the Corradino Correctional facility at the same time as Robert Agius, testify in court. He informed the jury that another inmate Brandon Cachia, had told him that a certain man, Kevin Ellul, known as Double 0, was involved in the procurement of the bomb.
Brandon Cachia himself later took the stand and confirmed that his former girlfriend, Nicole Brignone, had told him Kevin Ellul was the one who built the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. Brignone had also warned him of Double 0’s violent tendencies.
During her testimony on the day, Brignone also gave several conflicting statements, first denying any relationship with Cachia but then confirming that she went out with both Ellul and Cachia at the same time.
In her testimony during the compilation of evidence, she had also admitted that there was a discussion about bombs with Kevin Ellul. Ellul allegedly said he wanted to make a bomb targeting the Maksar brothers as revenge after believing that the bomb which exploded in his residence in 2018 was done by them.
Brignone also told the jury that she does not remember telling Brandon Cachia that Kevin Ellul was involved in creating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. Brignone continnues testifying on Wednesday.
The court is being presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima.
Prosecutors Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Anthony Vella are representing the attorney general’s office.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Mifsud is appearing for Adrian Agius, Ishmael Psaila and Amadeus Cachia for Jamie Vella, Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin representing Robert Agius, and Noel Bianco and Leslie Cuschieri for George Degiorgio.
Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia are assisting the Caruana Galizia family, while Vince Galea is assisting the Chircop family.
11.28 Brignone’s testimony in the magisterial inquiry continues to be read out.
Kevin Ellul had told Brignone that a mobile phone was used from inside the prison to make these calls.
She confirmed that Ellul had used the word “mobile” not “telephone” implying that a clandestine mobile phone was used by the Degorgio brothers, while they were held in custody at the Corradino Correctional Facility, to make these calls in order to avoid being recorded.
Brignone also told the inquiry that Ellul had everything ready to flee. He had clothes ready packed to depart the moment his name was mentioned in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder.
11.15 Brignone’s previous testimony in the magisterial inquiry continues being read out:
Brignone thought she told Brandon Cachia (the inmate who informed fellow inmate Melchior Spiteri of Kevin Ellul’s alleged involvement in the Caruana Galizia murder) that Kevin was involved in the Daphne case because Kevin had mentioned these things to her.
Brignone had explained that “if anyone ever did mention him, he had already planned to flee the country”.
“He has a lot of money,” she had said. He owns a house in Italy and told her that if anything happens, he’ll flee Malta and go there.
Brignone had also heard Ellul mention that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was involved, that he definitely gave someone permission or let someone off the hook in the Daphne murder involvement.
“Ellul told me Joseph was an idiot because he was the one who hired us,” Brignone had testified. “I think Keith Schembri was the other politician Ellul had mentioned,” Brignone had said.
It has to be noted that Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri have always denied having prior knowledge of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder or that they were involved. They have never been charged with the murder but Schembri is facing criminal charges for leaking sensitive information from the murder investigation to Yorgen Fenech. Schembri has denied the charges.
Ellul seemed to know a lot about the murder and he even told her that he knew when it was going to happen. He knew that “the middle man” left the bomb somewhere and then the [Degiorgio] brothers went to place it.
She wasn’t sure who the middle man is. When asked whether the middle man was Melvin Theuma, she had responded in the affirmative.
Brignone had claimed that according to Kevin Ellul, [former prime minister] Joseph Muscat paid Yorgen Fenech.
11:08 Defence lawyer Rene Darmanin and Madam Justice Edwina Grima are reading out Nicole Brignone’s previous testimony from the magisterial inquiry.
The following are excerpts from Brignone’s previous testimony:
Kevin, Double 0, used to give her cocaine and he too used to ingest a lot of drugs, such as heroin. Once, he had said he wanted to bomb the Maksar family.
Kevin always suspected that the Maksar brothers were the ones who planted the bomb at his [Gharghur] residence. He’s the type who stays quiet but plots revenge.
Ellul and Brignone used to go and spy on the Maksar brothers.
She wasn’t sure where the place was as she used to be under the influence of drugs.
“We used to turn off our mobile phones to switch off the signal, when we got to the residential road of Maksar’s residence. The house was surrounded by cameras and we had to hide. We used to cover our faces with our hoods,” Brignone had testified.
The witness had also confirmed that the Degiorgio brothers used to call Ellul from prison since Ellul is very trusted by them. “They used to call him from prison to reassure him that he wouldn’t be mentioned in the Daphne case.”
“Ellul has a garage full of explosives,” Brignone had confirmed and explained the scene in detail, including where the bombs were placed.
She said that regarding Daphne’s case, Ellul knows who did it. The [Degiorgio] brothers tried to get him involved since they trust him a lot.
10:22 On Tuesday, jurors heard hearsay evidence from a person who was an inmate with Robert Agius, about claims that the bomb which killed Daphne Caruana Galizia was made by a certain Kevin Ellul, known as Double 0.
However, when testifying, Ellul’s former partner, Nicole Brignone, could not recall that she ever told Brandon Cachia, whom she had been dating, that Ellul was behind the Caruana Galizia bomb. Brignone’s testimony suggested that Ellul was not involved with the bomb and had blamed the Tal-Maksar brothers for a bomb that had exploded at his own residence in Gharghur in 2018.
Brignone is to continue testifying this morning.
10:18 The case is presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima.
10:16 Good morning.
We are back inside the law courts to follow the trial by jury of Robert Agius, Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio. Robert Agius and Jamie Vella are accused of procuring the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, while Adrian Agius is accused of commissioning lawyer Carmel Chircop’s murder in 2015. Vella and George Degiorgio are accused of executing the hit on Chircop.
All men are pleading not guilty.