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‘The Road Was On Fire’: Read Matthew Caruana Galizia’s Horrific Account Of The Fateful Day His Mother Was Murdered

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Bidnija, Malta and the journalistic world in general was rocked by a car bomb explosion that claimed the life of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16th October 2017. This morning, one of her sons returned to court to give a horrific account of the moments that led to his mother’s assassination.

Matthew Caruana Galizia testified in court earlier today in the compilation of evidence against the three men who have been accused of alleged involvement in the car bomb, shedding more light on the moments directly before and after the explosion.

As Times of Malta reported, Matthew’s account starts off with a seemingly normal day

“I got up at around 9am. My mother made coffee. We were sitting at the same desk. Mother got a phone call at around 2pm from HSBC about an appointment about her bank accounts and the garnishee order. She left the house but returned to pick up her cheque book.”

“I heard the music going on [in the car] and heard the car driving off. Just a few minutes later, I heard the explosion. It’s very quiet where we live, so you hear almost everything. My mother drives very fast and she goes down the lane very fast.”

From here, Caruana Galizia paints a horrific picture of the events that followed upon hearing the explosion and “jumping out of his seat”

“I saw the smoke rising in the distance and at that point I just sprinted down the lane towards the main road. A large part of the road was on fire and I was confused because the road was on fire and nothing else. Pieces of plastic, glass and flesh. I followed the smoke with my eye and there I saw the field with the car in it.”

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“I noticed my mother’s leg on the ground in the field. That is when I realised that she hadn’t survived.”

As he struggled to figure out whether the car he spotted was indeed his mother’s, Matthew recounted the moment he recognised the car’s hubcaps and the number plate.

“I tried to get my hand inside the car but couldn’t. There was nobody in the car, it was blown to pieces. I saw a woman with a little girl nearby and I said call the police.”

“I noticed my mother’s leg on the ground in the field. That is when I realised that she hadn’t survived.”

Echoing comments that have previously made it to online forums, lawyer Martin Fenech asked Matthew Caruana Galizia why he had left the car outside on the night before

“Don’t you feel you should have parked it inside?” the lawyer reportedly asked.

The Caruana Galizia objected to this question, but Matthew still had something to say about this.

“I normally park the car, lock it, open the gate with a different fob. It was just me and my mother who used the car. Maybe my father did once or twice. No one threatened me directly, unfortunately my mother isn’t around and she’s the person to ask.”

One final question was specifically centred around the missing laptop that was the source of much controversy and heated debate in the last year.

“All I know is that it has been handed over to the German federal police by a representative of my family,” Caruana Galizia answered.

The court sitting was adjourned and is expected to continue in 11th January 2019

Photos from Repubblica.it (AP)

What do you make of Matthew Caruana Galizia’s account? Let us know in the comments below.

READ NEXT: Gardening, Cooking, And Styling: The Softer Side To Daphne Caruana Galizia

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).

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