‘She noticed something was very wrong’ – sole eyewitness describes Daphne Caruana Galizia’s last moments

The sole eyewitness who was present when the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia was detonated recalled how he saw the victim “panicking” during the few seconds between the initial spark that armed the bomb and the second spark that set it off, saying that “she noticed something was very wrong.”

The witness, Francis Sant, explains that on the day of the murder, he was driving from Mosta on the way to Bidnija when the explosion happened.

Just before entering Bidnija’s main road and crossing the bridge, Sant drove up the hill and suddenly saw the victim panicking inside the car moments before the explosion. He pulled over to the side when he noticed the commotion.

“She was not in a position to move, and I was wondering what was happening to her… a few seconds passed, and I was still glued to the steering wheel. Then I saw the first spark, like the spark of a firework that was just ignited… and I heard her scream,” Sant recalled under examination by prosecutor Godwin Cini.

“I think she was trying to get out of the car, in between the first spark that came out from beneath the car and then the second one,” he continued before trailing off.

Sant then explained that, from a distance of around 20-25 metres, he saw Daphne panicking and further noted that “she noticed something was very wrong.”

“When the big explosion set off, I saw body parts flying everywhere, even through the windscreen of the vehicle. I think there were maybe three to five seconds between the first and second explosion,“ Sant said.

“After the second explosion, the car was and the victim were completely destroyed. The vehicle missed me by a few metres and went straight into the field after the explosion,” he added.

Other than Sant’s gripping testimony, several first responders and court experts were also brought in to shed more light on the intrinsic details of how the bombing was forensically reconstructed.

The court also heard from several first responders and forensic witnesses as the prosecution continued presenting evidence on the immediate aftermath and forensic reconstruction of the bombing.

Three representatives of the Netherlands Forensic Institute confirmed the authenticity of NFI reports previously exhibited in court. They told the court they had been involved in compiling reports related to the crime scene, including electronic components and human remains recovered from the site.

Court expert Martin Bajada also testified about redactions made to a report by Europol expert Marius Van Der Meer. Bajada said the court had directed him to redact material extracted from Caruana Galizia’s electronic devices because it could have included information about her sources as an investigative journalist.

Van Der Meer, who worked with Europol at the time and now works with the Dutch police, explained that he was appointed as a court expert in March 2018 to analyse data extracted from Caruana Galizia’s phone, cloned SIM card, cloud storage and hard drive.

He said his task was to provide an overview of the data, identify contacts, map the topics she was discussing, examine possible scenarios related to the homicide and potential instigators, and identify the main sources of information.

Van Der Meer said he focused on English-language content because of the Maltese language barrier and had recommended that Maltese-language material be analysed by a local expert.

Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco asked whether Keith Schembri featured in three possible scenarios in the report and whether Chris Cardona was mentioned as a person of interest. Van Der Meer confirmed Cardona was mentioned, but said he did not identify anyone as an individual instigator.

He also confirmed that Fenech did not feature in any part of the report. The witness described the report as having been authored in “a vacuum”, meaning it was not corroborated by additional evidence.

Jurors also heard from residents near the Victoria Lines, where police believe the victim was being monitored from a vantage point before the assassination.

Wallace Sammut said police knocked on his door the day after the murder and asked whether he had seen anything unusual. He recalled seeing a small white rental car repeatedly parked near the scouts’ camping site in the weeks before the murder, in an area where few cars normally passed because of the road’s poor condition.

Another resident, Maria Sammut Grech, also recalled seeing the same vehicles. She said they stood out because the road was not frequently used, but she did not report them at the time because she had only seen parked cars.

The trial continues.