Woman contradicts new claims about supplier of bomb that killed Caruana Galizia

Updated 9.15pm

A woman has denied in court that Kevin Ellul, better known as “id-double O” had supplied the bomb used in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

Nicole Brignone took the witness stand hours after Melchior Spiteri and Brandon Cachia testified that she had told Cachia, with whom she was in a relationship, that Ellul supplied the bomb.

Brignone was giving evidence in the trial of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, who stand accused of supplying the bomb that was used to assassinate the journalist in October 2017. They deny the charges. 

As the woman took the stand, she told the jurors that she could not remember what she testified before the inquiring magistrate, Victor Axiak.

She said that she had been on the “wrong path” and was not mentally stable at the time.

Ellul - later injured in a bomb explosion at his Għargħur farmhouse -  would make things up, she said, but she did not recall him mentioning anything about Caruana Galizia.

She explained that she met Ellul through Facebook, when he used a different name. When she asked him who he was, he sent a link to an article about the explosion.

She said that they would spend 15 days together and then not meet for a month.

Prosecutor Godwin Cini read out Brignone’s initial testimony before the magistrates' court to help her refresh her memory.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima asked her if she was ever in a car with Cachia and Ellul.

“I had something going on with both of them. I used to feel sorry for Brandon and would ask him to join,” Brignone said.

The woman said she had also told Cachia to tell Ellul they were cousins so as not to arouse suspicion, as he was “dangerous”.

Cini also read out Brignone’s initial testimony when she was confronted by Cachia. In that testimony, she confirmed an intimate relationship with Cachia, and said she was addicted to drugs. Eventually she went to rehab. She also confirmed having an intimate relationship with Ellul at the same time.

The woman said that whatever Ellul told her, she had just his word for it, as she had no evidence.  

He did tell her that Ta’ Maksar (the Agius brothers) placed a bomb at his farmhouse and that he wanted to pay them back with a bomb.

She also said that people called him from prison asking if his name would come up in the Caruana Galizia murder. But she did not recall their names.  Before the inquiring magistrate, the woman had said that Ta’ Maksar placed the bomb in Għargħur and he wanted to pay them back. But she could not tell why they had targeted him.

When asked about the bomb which killed Caruana Galizia,  Brignone said Ellul told her “I am not stupid and I did not want to have anything to do with it”.

Defence lawyer Rene Darmanin during cross examination suggested that in May 2022  Brignone testified twice before the inquiring magistrate. He started reading parts of her testimony, until the prosecution raised a point of law requesting that the full transcripts should be read out just like the prosecution did. The court ruled that the full transcripts would be read out and ordered that the woman be kept isolated until Wednesday morning when she is due to take the witness stand again.

Earlier on Tuesday prisoner Brandon Cachia claimed in his own testimony that  the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia was supplied by Kevin Ellul.  

Cachia testified that he had been told by Brignon, that he was the person who supplied the bomb.  

A memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Times of Malta

Cachia, from Cospicua, told the court that in summer 2021 he began a relationship with Brignone, who was also in a relationship with Ellul at the time.

"Once I was home, she sent me a message and said she will come to pick me up with someone else and told me that it was important to tell this person we are cousins because he is dangerous and would kill us," Cachia told the court. "His name was Kevin."

When Ellul later dropped him home, Cachia asked his girlfriend why she considered Ellul so dangerous that he would kill them. He said "she told me he is Kevin double o. He brought Caruana Galizia’s bomb and had a bomb that went off."

He said she later repeated this claim in front of Ellul, who "didn't say no or yes".

Brignone was also called to testify on Tuesday and denied saying Ellul had any involvement in the Caruana Galizia bomb. 

Girlfriend denies claim

Initially, she repeatedly said "I don't remember" when asked to recall testimony she had previously given to the court before a magistrate back in 2022. She confirmed she had been in a relationship with both men but was "not mentally stable" when she was in a relationship with Ellul and they had taken drugs together.  

Her previous testimony was then read out in court. She had described Ellul as an "OK person,  good-hearted but you cannot trust him nor rely on him”. She had said there was some discussion about bombs but that she could not recall exactly what and did not want to testify about it. 

“All that Kevin told me, I have no evidence on it," she had said. "I have nothing to do with it. If Kevin was lying, so am I."

She said he had wanted to set a bomb on tal-Maksar, the family nickname for Robert Agius, "because he [Ellul] thought that the bomb they made for him was done by Maksar.” She said that some people from the prison phoned Ellul "daily" to "see if he is going to get named".

When confronted about Cachia's claim she said she did not recall telling him about "Daphne's bomb". After hearing her earlier testimony read out, Brignone told the court that she remembered it and that at no point did she say Ellul was involved in the Caruana Galizia bomb. 

The scene of the car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

She added that she had spoken to Kevin Ellul outside court on Thursday and told the courtroom he "reminded" her about the bomb.

Cachia later told fellow inmate Melchior Spiteri of his former girlfriend's claim.

Spiteri also testified on Thursday, telling the court about their conversation in Division 11 in the Corradino Correctional Facility. Alleged bomb supplier Robert Agius was also in the division at the time. 

Spiteri had been asked to testify before the Court of Magistrates on the request of Agius following a conversation in prison. Spiteri repeated the conversation before the jury, claiming that he had contradicted Cachia, saying it was Agius, since he was charged in connection with the case.

Spiteri recalled Agius “crying” and protesting his innocence in prison. He eventually told him what Cachia had told him. Then they called Cachia to the cell and they spoke about it.

“Nicole told Brandon who told me that the bomb was procured by id-double O,” the witness said. Spiteri described Agius as “family man” and said he respected him. He said that they became friends in prison.

The trial continues