‘I have never been the same’: Peter Caruana Galizia recounts wife’s murder at Fenech trial

Peter Caruana Galizia, the husband of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, told jurors on Saturday of the devastating personal impact of the journalist’s assassination and recounted how his wife had become increasingly consumed by her investigation into the Electrogas deal in the months before she was killed.

Caruana Galizia was testifying on the 28th day of the jury trial of Yorgen Fenech, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of complicity in the 16 October 2017 car bomb assassination of the investigative journalist and of participating in a criminal organisation formed to carry out the murder.

The journalist’s husband recalled the morning of the murder, telling jurors he left the family home in Bidnija for work at around 7.30am while his wife was still asleep.

Hours later, he received a phone call from his son that a bomb had exploded in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s car. At that stage, he still did not know whether she had survived.

When he arrived in Bidnija, the area was sealed off by police and emergency responders. He testified that Inspector Kurt Zahra approached him, and when he asked whether his wife had died, the inspector replied: “Yes, she died.”

The witness also described the months leading up to the assassination, telling the court his wife had been working with exceptional intensity on what she considered to be a major story involving Yorgen Fenech and political figures.

He said she had obtained Fenech’s mobile phone number and intended to call him, recalling that this was approximately two months before she was killed.

“She told me it was quite a big story,” he testified. “I never saw her working at such a relentless pace.”

“Fear wasn’t in her vocabulary. I never understood it. I would be scared, but when she had a story she would pursue it, get to the bottom of it, travel and make calls. Nothing would hold her back,” The Times reports.

Peter Caruana Galizia also spoke about the impact the killing had on the family, describing the trauma as something impossible to fully explain.

“I have never been the same since,” he told jurors. “I am no longer taking on cases or accepting new clients because I cannot focus… I am still alive, but the impact is unimaginable,” he said.

He described how, in the aftermath of the murder, the family also became the target of online disinformation and defamatory stories.

“They even posted pictures of me and my sister to defame us. Stories were circulated that I had extra-marital affairs and wanted her dead,” he testified.

He praised his three sons for their determination to pursue justice, adding that the family had been fortunate to find investigators willing to pursue the case. He singled out Inspector Keith Arnaud for the support he provided throughout the investigation.

The witness also recounted the family’s legal battle to have former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta removed from the murder investigation because of his relationship with Yorgen Fenech.

He told jurors that the family had not been comfortable with Valletta supervising the investigation after Daphne Caruana Galizia had written about him. They instituted constitutional proceedings and ultimately succeeded, including on appeal.

Peter Caruana Galizia further confirmed that the family has filed civil proceedings seeking damages against Fenech, the convicted hitmen George and Alfred Degiorgio, self-confessed middleman Vince Muscat, brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, known as the Ta’ Maksar brothers, and state witness Melvin Theuma.

Earlier in the sitting, jurors also heard from police witnesses involved in the investigation into the assassination and Fenech’s 2019 arrest.

The trial continues on Monday.