Graphic details of the moment that journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb on 16 October 2017 were today shared in court by Francis Sant, a Bidnija resident.
Sant was testifying in the compilation of evidence against prime murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.
In a distinguishably soft voice, Sant recalled how he was driving through the Bidnija road on that fateful day at about 3pm when he saw Caruana Galizia’s car driving in his direction, towards Mosta. He recalled how her car slowed down, which made him sense that something was wrong.
He told Magistrate Rachel Montebello he was scared, and his car moved backwards as he noticed that she “appeared to be panicking”.
He then heard a “small bang” which he likened to the sound of firework explosions, followed by a “piercing scream”. It was after that that the second explosion happened, which left Sant shocked.
“I saw parts of her ripped off. Her hand flew off… I realised they were human parts,” he said, providing the court with exhaustive detail. He realised he could not do anything. “It was so cruel,” he added.
A female driver with children in her car passed the scene and called for help, he recalled, just before Caruana Galizia’s son, Matthew, came running down the road in tears.
Before leaving the witness stand, Sant noted that for some reason he drove slowly that day, which was unusual.
Sant has testified before and even repeated this description in a documentary on the assassination. However, it was once again met by a silent courtroom, even leaving the defence without any questions to ask.
Following Sant’s testimony, members of the public, who were reading live blogs of the case, took to social media to express their shock at the narrative and reaffirmed the need for justice for the journalist.
Prior to Sant, numerous police officers and inspectors also gave their testimonies about their actions and recollections of the day.
Following Sant, Inspector Kurt Zahra was called to testify, but his testimony was held behind closed doors.
Lock them up in a miniscule prison cell, together with Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri, and project 24/7 on the four walls and ceiling, this macabre scene with a piercing sound of the exploding bomb.
They do not deserve better.
Despite having heard this description before, the shock and horror of what this man saw and heard remains as gut-wrenching and devastating as it was the first time I read it. I don’t know how any human being could read these words and not feel ripped apart by sorrow and fury. The frustratingly long-drawn-out court process must at least result in firm convictions that ensure the perpetrators of this foul, vicious assassination are locked away for the rest of their lives, and that includes every single sordid and despicable character that had anything to do with it. However long it takes, every single person involved in this horrendous crime must be brought to justice and must pay for what they did, to Daphne, to her family, to her friends, but also to the entire population of Malta. This hideous crime tars us all with the same brush, unless and until we find and penalize every single actor in this dreadful play.
Those labor clique politicians who were voted in government in 2013 to run our small nation, were discovered and caught in money laundering and the monument of power station corruption. With their media they created hatred against her with the most disgusting adjectives never seen against human being before when at last they killed her with a car bomb. Now it depends on the Court of Justice to do their work paid from our money. Everybody knows who is the killer clique. The more the delay the more our future generation collapse to the undertaking dark bad life. Just remember that the guilty of this massacre are still running out with the will of the corrupted labor side government when voted in parlament against the motion the opposition to eliminate those caught in money laundering. Pezza wahda.