Joseph Muscat ‘Paid Someone’ To Place Daphne Caruana Car Bomb, Crying Witness Claims In Court
In a dramatic twist of events from court, former prime minister Joseph Muscat has been explicitly named in the bomb testimony of the assassination trial of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, with one witness claiming she heard about how he “paid someone” to place the bomb.
Nicole Brignone, a woman who was in an intimate relationship with both “notorious” Kevin Ellul (known as “id-double O”) and prisoner Brandon Cachia, made the shocking revelation in secret back in 2022, but today, her testimony was read out in court, as per The Times of Malta.
The woman claimed that Ellul – who allegedly has deep ties with Malta’s criminal networks – had told her that Joseph Muscat “paid someone” to have the bomb placed. In her testimony, Brignone also said Ellul had called Muscat iblaħ (an idiot) and named other politicians connected to the plot to assassinate Caruana Galizia. Muscat’s former chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was allegedly also mentioned as having been “involved in some way” by Ellul, but Brignone did not provide any additional detail on this claim.
When asked to confirm the part of her testimony which involved the former prime minister, Brignone reportedly asked for a chair, began crying, and confirmed it again on oath.
According to Brignone, Ellul knew about all of this because he was close to George il-Fulu and Alfred iċ-Ċiniż Degiorgio, the brothers who are currently in prison over the bombing of the journalist. In fact, Brignone claimed Ellul told her he was asked to participate in the assassination, but chose not to because he’s “not stupid”.
Ever since the October 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, then-prime minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri have both categorically denied any sort of involvement in the murder, and have since never been charged with any crime linked to it.
Meanwhile, Brignone said Ellul had a deep mistrust of the Maksar criminal clan, believing they had betrayed him and planning a retaliatory bombing against them himself.
On a personal note, Brignone admitted to years of drug addiction and homelessness, being worried of revealing so many criminal secrets and asking the court if she would “get into trouble for saying these things”.
During her time with Ellul, Brignone had also maintained an intimate relationship with Brandon Cachia. The Bormla man, currently serving a prison sentence, just yesterday claimed that Brignone had told him Ellul was the one who supplied the bomb used in the murder of Caruana Galizia, but when it was her turn to take the witness stand, the woman denied the claim, saying that because she was on the “wrong path” and not mentally stable when she had testified, she could not remember was she had told inquiring magistrate Victor Axiak.
Prosecutors Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Anthony Vella are prosecuting on behalf of the AG Office. Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud is assisting Adrian Agius.
Lawyers Ishmael Psaila and Amadeus Cachia are assisting Jamie Vella. Lawyers Alfred Abela and René Darmanin are assisting Robert Agius. Lawyers Noel Bianco and Leslie Cuschieri are assisting George Degiorgio.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia are assisting the Caruana Galizia family.
What do you make of these latest developments from court?
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