Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1390367
4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 JULY 2021 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS THE court hearing the compila- tion of evidence against Robert and Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio has heard how one of the Maksar brothers had just returned from a 'retreat' in Sicily when he was arrested. The men are charged over their involvement in the 2017 murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. Police inspector Malcolm Bon- din led the December 4 raid in 2017 on Anton Cachia, who held the keys to the Zebbug garage where Adrian Agius was arrested. He testified that around 9:15am, while officers were searching the garage, the contents of which con- sisted mostly of cars and vehicle parts, a black car drove past. In it, he recognized Adrian Agi- us, one of the Maksar brothers who was also the subject of an ar- rest warrant at the time. The inspector called up Super- intendent Keith Arnaud, who instructed him to proceed with Agius's arrest should the suspect return. When the car did, in fact, return to make a second pass in front of the garage, Agius was ar- rested. Agius had told the police that he had just returned from a retreat in Sicily and had stopped to check the garage after noticing the police cars parked nearby. Former Assistant Commissioner Martin Sammut also testified to- day, telling the court that he had been on the explosion site in Bid- nija within 8 minutes of receiving information about it. Being one of the first people on-site, he had grabbed a fire extinguisher from his car and tried to put out the flames engulfing Daphne Caruana Galizia's car, but in vain. "My first reaction was to open the door of the car and put out the fire with the fire extinguisher in our car," he said. In the meantime, he had in- formed CPD units, and these were soon tackling the blaze them- selves. Soon afterwards, a man had come running down the road, who was recognized as Matthew Caruana Galizia. It was then that he had concluded that the person inside the car was Daphne, he said. Cross-examined by AG lawyer George Camilleri, he said the body in the car was not identifiable. The Assistant Commissioner had spoken to Matthew Caruana Galizia, he said. "He was very ag- itated, and police were trying to calm him down." Sammut had helped preserve the crime scene while forensic experts and Europol officers examined it. The court also heard Miguel Caruana, a friend of George De- giorgio, one of the hitmen who allegedly sent the SMS to activate the bomb that killed Caruana Gal- izia. He said he had been asked to top up Degiorgio's mobile on the morning of the murder. Caruana testified that he had received a call from Degiorgio at around 11:30am, and he had bought the requested top-up voucher from a Tarxien bazaar just before it closed for lunch. He had scratched that vouch- er and sent the top-up code to Degiorgio via SMS, Caruana ex- plained. Two months after that, the po- lice had searched Caruana's home seized personal possessions which had not yet been returned by po- lice, he said. The last witness to testify this morning was a mother who wit- nessed the explosion at Bidnija while driving her infant daughter home from school. Charlene Abela was driving down Bidnija valley when a car shot out of an alley, right in front of her. Abela was then driving a few metres behind that car when she spotted a "spark, like a small ex- plosion" beneath the car in front of her, at which point she had in- stinctively slowed down. The other car had sped up and then suddenly exploded, a large piece of debris narrowly missing her car on the left-hand side. As the victim's car crashed into a field, she saw another vehicle driv- ing in the opposite direction and barely missed the burning wreck. Both herself and the driver, an elderly man, were in a state of shock, she said. They had called the Mosta police station to report the incident. Ab- ela was one of the first witnesses heard by the magisterial inquiry, testifying before it the next day. The case continues on Wednes- day. Maksar compilation Adrian Agius told police he was returning from a 'retreat' in Sicily Two of the defendants being escorted out of Court and back to prison A new direction for Local Governments to strengthen the community Hon. Minister Jose' Herrera " The Reform Continues: Public Consultation on Local Government Policy 2021. Access from: www.localgovernment.gov.mt " HAVE YOUR SAY!