Carmel Chircop’s Son Didn’t Accompany Murdered Father To Garage Due To Cancelled Lecture

Assistant Police Commissioner Keith Arnaud took to the stand today in the ongoing jury trial against the men charged with killing lawyer Carmel Chircop and supplying the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia.

As reported by Times of Malta, Arnaud broke down the investigations following Chircop’s murder in October 2018.

He said the lawyer’s body was found slumped on the floor in a garage complex with gunshot wounds, although no bullet casings were nearby.

Chircop’s wife told the police that her husband would usually leave home work at around 6:45am and that their son would typically accompany them. However, on the day of the murder, he stayed at home because his lecture had been cancelled that morning.

CCTV footage from a nearby shop showed a Toyota Ractis entering the garage complex at 6:36am and leaving around the time of the murder.

Police traced the car’s moments but lost it due to a lack of CCTV coverage.

Although the police searched for the car, focusing on its open sun visor as a distinctive feature, it was only years later – thanks to information provided by state witness Vince Muscat – that they found out it had been abandoned in a Santa Venera garage.

During investigations, Chircop’s wife said her late husband had issues with a number of people, including suspect Adrian Agius – which was related to an unpaid debt over the sale of a warehouse in Qormi.

The real estate agent involved told police that Chircop was considering legal action to collect money owed to him by Agius, Ryan Schembri, and Etienne Cassar.

Chircop’s wife said her husband had “got angry” during phone calls with Agius, and that the suspect once told him that “you should have taken the villa”. This was a reference to a hypothecated property that was used as collateral in their financial agreement.

Eventually, police requested an arrest warrant for Agius, and the man voluntarily turned himself in on 11th October 2015.

He confirmed that he was involved in More Supermarkets and that he, along with Cassar and Schembri, were planning to buy a warehouse for €3 million. Chircop was set to get €700,000 from the deal, with the funds presented as a loan for tax-related issues.

Agius told the police he was planning to mount a legal challenge on the constitution of debt since not everyone was present when the deal was signed. He was released on police bail and didn’t remain a suspect until 2021.