Updated 6pm

Convicted hitman Vince Muscat told a panel of jurors that fellow convicted hitman George Degiorgio was willing to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia even if others were in the car with her.

On Saturday, Muscat resumed testifying against four men allegedly involved in the murders of lawyer Carmel Chircop and Caruana Galizia.

“There could be anyone with her [in the car]. There could be her children, because we’ll blow her up nonetheless,” Degiorgio told Muscat during Notte Bianca in early October 2017.

The plan was to place the bomb in the journalist's car outside the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana, but it did not go through because they could not spot the vehicle on the day. 

Muscat added that fellow hitman Alfred Degiorgio seemed to have agreed with his brother on the plot. Once they got to Floriana, they parked and searched the parking lots around Phoenicia Hotel but they could not see Caruana Galizia car.

During the continuation of his court testimony, Muscat, known as Il-Koħħu, chronicled the plan to assassinate the journalist. On September 21, 2017, the three hitmen had come across Daphne and Peter Caruana Galizia, who were driving to Valletta.

Muscat recalled how Peter Caruana Galizia parked his car in the parking area near Phoenicia next to the parker. The journalist got out of the car and crossed over to the Phoenicia Hotel, with her husband following shortly afterwards.

On that day, the bomb was stored away at a garage in Naxxar for which both the three convicted hitmen and accused Jamie Vella and Robert Agius had the keys, Muscat testified. 

Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat moved the bomb from Naxxar to Santa Venera – in the same garage where they had kept the stolen car used in Chircop’s murder.

Asked by prosecutor Godwin Cini why they had done so, Muscat replied: “Santa Venera is closer to Valletta and there is less traffic, while from Naxxar, there is more chance you will encounter obstacles along the way.”

Caruana Galizia was assassinated days later - on October 16 - through a car bomb outside her house. 

Muscat described how he was called by Alfred Degiorgio the night before the killing.

“Cens, her car is parked outside,” Degiorgio told him. It was around 8pm.

'They quickly turn against you'

Degiorgio ordered him to retrieve the bomb from a garage in Santa Venera and bring it to Naxxar.

Muscat recalled being nervous: “I didn’t like going alone with the bomb... this was extremely dangerous, but you can’t say no to them – they quickly turn against you.”

By 11pm, all three – the Degiorgio brothers and Muscat – were together. They agreed that if Caruana Galizia’s car remained outside, it would be time to act.

That night, Alfred Degiorgio and Muscat retrieved the bomb. Alfred carried it in a small backpack, while Muscat stood guard near a large carob tree by the field. Alfred opened the back door of the target vehicle, slipped the device under the seat, and locked the car again.

They returned to their vantage point - a derelict room with a partial wall overlooking the Bidnija road - and waited. George Degiorgio had sailed out on his boat with the phone that would send the detonation signal.

The site of the car bombing.

Just before 3pm the following day, Caruana Galizia exited her home. She returned inside briefly, then came out again. “The bulb on the gate lit up... I think she’s coming out,” Alfred Degiorgio told Muscat.

Moments later, the car began moving down the hill. Without waiting for Alfred’s go-ahead, George sent the activation message. “I pressed it,” George later said.

Alfred, furious, replied: “Why did you press it? I was supposed to tell you when.”

The explosion that followed killed Caruana Galizia instantly.

Muscat later saw Alfred Degiorgio throw items into manure piles and fields as they fled. He himself dismantled his burner phone and scattered it. Hours later, he sat alone on a bench in Rabat, shaken. “I didn’t feel right. I just sat there.”

Anticipating a police raid

After a break, Muscat told the court how he and the Degiorgio brothers cleaned out their hideout the night before they were arrested, anticipating a police raid.

Alfred Degiorgio had warned him in advance: “Cens, at around 5am I’ll come by and we’ll go get a cup of tea, then head to the potato shed.” 

The brothers picked him up and drove to a small cabin near the Msida police station. From there, they went to the potato shed, and at around 8am, as Alfred Degiorgio predicted, sirens were heard - the police had arrived. 

He said lawyer David Gatt had visited the potato shed both before and after the bombing, and would give a thumbs-up gesture. He explained that this was for Keith Schembri.

Muscat said the Degiorgio brothers had promised him €1 million and believed they would be released from prison through a bribe.

“They told me we’d be out on bail, that someone – Melvin Theuma or someone else – was going to pay €100,000 to a judge,” Muscat testified.

“The Degiorgios thought we’d be released on a pledge... how could that be possible, on a case like this?”

He said George and Alfred Degiorgio had a mobile phone while in custody and were in contact with Theuma, warning each other to be cautious. He recalled receiving €150-€200 weekly during his detention, which was handed to his children via a relative. He also described how Jamie Vella and Robert Agius allegedly offered his father-in-law €1,500 per month for Muscat to remain silent. 

Starting his cross-examination, Rene Darmanin, representing Robert Agius,  asked the witness how certain he was about his testimony. “Mija fil-mija” (One hundred percent), Muscat replied, maintaining his stance that he had always told the truth.

The lawyer then probed into his prior testimonies, asking whether he had always been truthful in his statements to various investigators and before the courts. Muscat continued to assert that he had always spoken the truth, especially about the details concerning Chircop and Caruana Galizia.

Darmanin also raised the issue of Muscat's involvement in the inquiry into Daphne's death, asking why he had only started speaking in 2020, long after he initially began cooperating in 2018.

Muscat explained that his decision to come forward was to help the victims’ families, though he admitted to feeling fear and pressure when first approached by authorities.

'This is why I'm speaking out'

Muscat, who was granted a presidential pardon in connection with Chircop’s murder, insisted he had spoken out partly for the victim's family and not solely to receive a reduced sentence.

"Everyone knows I was sentenced to 15 years. I wanted a lower term, yes, but also for the victims," he told the court.

The body of Carmel Chircop is removed from a Birkirkara garage, where he was shot dead in 2015. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Questioned by lawyer Rene Darmanin, Muscat acknowledged his role in the Chircop case, clarifying, “I didn’t kill Chircop, I was an accomplice.”

He said he began testifying in court following his initial statements to police, maintaining he had remained consistent across all proceedings, including in cases against Alfred and George Degiorgio, Yorgen Fenech, and the Agius brothers.

Muscat said he was informed of the Chircop murder plot by George Degiorgio. When asked whether he was present when the Agius brothers commissioned the killing, Muscat confirmed he was told by Degiorgio that “Adrian and Robert came because they wanted to get rid of some lawyer." He described meetings at the Marsa potato shed where discussions about the murder took place, stating that Adrian Agius later pulled him aside and said, “Tell them something.”

Pressed on the motive, Muscat said the issue stemmed from a financial dispute between Chircop and Adrian Agius, amounting to €800,000 and possibly linked to a villa in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

“Chircop was putting pressure on Adrian, and Adrian pressured us in return,” Muscat said.

Muscat also testified about surveillance efforts prior to the murder. He recalled being instructed to watch Chircop’s home near McDonald's in Birkirkara but admitted he couldn’t remember who gave him the exact location. He later spotted Chircop in both Naxxar and Birgu, with Adrian Agius accompanying him during at least one of the stakeouts.

Muscat said discussions about Chircop's routine were held between him, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio. “The important thing was to kill him,” he said, adding there was no need to inform others, including Robert and Adrian Agius, of the precise method.

Muscat recalled Chircop’s daily routine to Valletta, saying they observed him opening his garage. Although he could not remember whether they conducted surveillance in the morning or afternoon, he insisted their goal was to locate Chircop’s garage.

He also claimed that the Maksar brothers “wanted to shoot him,” although he couldn’t remember giving this detail in earlier testimony. He confirmed they used a stolen car and sometimes passed by Chircop’s Birkirkara residence near McDonald’s.

Asked about planning, Muscat said he didn’t recall when it began or if the Agius brothers were involved in mapping the route.

“We had to do what we had to do,” he said.

Earlier...

During Friday’s trial, Muscat said the hitmen originally planned to shoot Caruana Galizia in the summer of 2017, but had to postpone the plan after one of the killers got cold feet. 

Muscat said he and the two other hitmen had to wait from June to October until Robert Agius and Jamie Vella got them a bomb instead of the rifle they initially planned to use. 

Details of the original plan were revealed, how the first plan dated back to 2014 or 2015, and Muscat was told that then-minister Chris Cardona was behind it. Cardona’s associate, David Gatt, was reportedly the middleman, Muscat had testified. 

The court heard how the hitmen spent entire days spying on Caruana Galizia and her movements, following her to her favourite Naxxar cafe, and even the airport when she was going abroad to attend her son’s wedding.