Daphne’s murder: defence claims discrimination over prison conditions
The compilation of evidence continued to be heard yesterday morning in the case against three men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia.
While multiple officers took the witness stand to describe the events that unfolded on the day of the murder, defence lawyers for the accused argued that their clients are being discriminated against over the conditions under which their families are allowed to visit.
Caruana Galizia was brutally murdered in a car bomb on 16 October 2017 just metres away from her Bidnija residence.
Following police investigations, assisted by the FBI and Dutch forensic experts, George Degiorgio, his brother Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat were arrested and charged with carrying out the heinous act.
The three men have complained, through defence attorneys Martin Fenech, William Cuschieri and Josette Scicluna, that they are being discriminated against. Instead of family visiting the accused in the same hall where all other prisoners receive visitors, they must have the visits in a “small room” with three officers present can hear every word.
Presiding magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit heard several more witnesses during yesterday’s hearing, with the most notable being a couple who rented out their St Paul’s Bay apartment to Alfred Degiorgio and another woman who was questioned about a SIM card she used in 2015.
The couple separately testified that Alfred Degiorgio had been renting the apartment in St Paul’s Bay since August 2017. They said that Degiorgio paid €800 in cash each month for the rent. The significance behind the prosecution calling the couple to the stand is to corroborate the location data they obtained from mobile phone reception towers, in all likelihood to confirm that a particular phone they believe to be linked with Degiorgio is really the case.
In addition, a woman took the witness stand and was questioned about a particular SIM card she used between 2014 and 2015. She confirmed that after 2915 she changed SIM card and number, for “personal reasons.”
She also confirmed that the SIM card had now been passed on to the police for investigation. The significance of this particular SIM card is not yet known.
Multiple police officers also took the witness stand to describe where they were stationed and what they saw when called to the scene of the crime on the day of the murder.
Prosecuting inspector Kurt Zahra was present, alongside deputy AG Philip Galea Farrugia. Party civile lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia were also present. In the audience, Caruana Galizia’s late husband, two of her sisters and her parents attended yesterday’s proceedings.