Mater Dei staff who were meant to operate on Daphne Caruana Galizia after first being informed about the car bomb allegedly celebrated when they heard the news that she had died.

“I spoke to another doctor recently and confirmed it was true,” Amanda Mallia, Daphne’s sister, told the court during the second sitting of the public inquiry into the murder.

Today was filled with heartbreaking testimonies of the intimidation, harassment and vilification both Daphne and her family have received over the years.

Mallia even said that people drive past Daphne’s Bidnija home and mimic “car explosions”.

Today, Mallia, her daughters Amy and Megan, and Daphne’s parents Michael and Rose Vella spoke. A testimony from an anonymous media person was also given. However, journalists were not allowed inside the court when this happened.

Each of the family members gave very personal accounts of the fear they felt for their high -profile family member.

“If the government took action on corruption our daughter would still be alive today,” they all said in separate testimonies.

Everyone detailed the growing fears they had over their daughter’s safety, particularly after election of the Labour Party in 2013.

“Daphne lived in an isolated area with no police protection, which meant I was worried every time she visited us and left by herself,” Daphne’s mother said.

They spoke about the culture of intimidation and harassment their daughter was subject too, with her mother, Rose, even detailing how her private life was exposed.

“When I had a stroke and I was speaking to my doctor, he said that it must have happened because of Daphne’s writings, and I thought he had no idea of our relation,” she said.

Labour MP Glenn Bedingfield’s now-defunct blog and the preceding tasteofyourownmedicine.com (which was anonymous but deleted around the same time the former was launched) were named as vessels to promote the vilification and dehumanisation of Daphne.

This, they said, all took place during Bedingfield’s office hours at the Office of the Prime Minister.

The blogs were often a vessel for fake news on Daphne, with each relative referencing an incident when they were on a family holiday in Sicily. A photo was taken of them, and somehow it was spun that Daphne’s father had a secret Sicilian family.

“Once someone even wrote that I was married to you, your honour,” Amanda Mallia told Judge Emeritus Michael Mallia, who forms part of the inquiry board.

All family members teared up when speaking of the days leading up to the brutal assassination.

Rose Vella detailed her daughter’s last visit to them on 14th October, revealing that Daphne said she had left a present for her parents back home and would return on her next visit.

“But 40 hours later she was assassinated by a car bomb. If the authorities had investigated the corruption Daphne wrote about she would still be alive today,” she said.

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