A panel of jurors were shown a series of disturbing photos of the aftermath of a car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia and footage of the journalist's remains at the morgue during the last court session before the weekend break.
Before the images were exhibited in court, Madame Justice Edwina Grima warned the jurors of the sensitive nature of the photos.
Some of them covered their eyes or had to look away as they were shown gruesome images of Daphne's head and torso lodged between the passenger seat and the door, while the rest of the lower body was found between the driver seat and the dashboard.
Photos of the journalist's right leg found outside the car were also shown to the jury.
Some of Daphne's relatives left the courtroom before the photos were exhibited, while two of her sisters who remained inside ended up in tears.
The images and footage were exhibited in court late on Saturday when a team of Scene of Crime Officers (SOCOs) took the witness stand in the trial by jury of four men, two of whom are accused of supplying the bomb used in Caruana Galizia’s murder.
The trial by jury of brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, better known as Ta’ Maksar, George Degiorgio (iċ-Ċiniż) and Jamie Vella entered its third day on Saturday.
Degiorgio and Vella are accused of murdering lawyer Carmel Chircop and being in possession of weapons when the lawyer was shot dead in 2015. They are also accused of carrying weapons without a licence. The Agius brothers are accused of complicity in that murder.
Robert Agius and Jamie Vella are separately accused of complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder and being in possession of illegal explosives.
They are all denying the charges.
Degiorgio has already been tried separately in connection with the journalist’s assassination and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, along with his brother, Alfred Degiorgio.
The aftermath of the explosion
Saturday's afternoon session saw 10 SOCOs led by police inspector Charlot Casha take the stand. The first to testify was police sergeant Patrick Grech, who was appointed as an exhibit officer in the inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s murder.
Scene of Crime Officers are the first people to get to a crime scene after the district police. The SOCOs go in first, and as a rule, no one goes on the crime scene until they prepare a trail from where the inquiring magistrate can walk.
In this case, there were several SOCOs appointed and all the exhibits collected from the crime scene were passed onto Grech, who, in turn, handed them to other foreign experts.
Those not collected by the foreign experts were analysed in the local forensic laboratory.
Each exhibit was accompanied by a “submission form”, and if it was handed over to another expert, there were documents showing who handled it, in order to preserve a chain of custody and for traceability purposes.
The area where the car bomb was detonated was divided into 27 sectors, with different SOCO teams carrying out carpet searches and line searches to ensure that all evidence was collected. Grech was stationed at a tent set up further down, and SOCOs would hand him any exhibits collected after a search was finished.
Three experts from the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) and a Dutch police officer assisted the local police in collecting evidence.
Casha then took the witness stand, and he explained that a 93-page report was prepared by the SOCOs and outlined the different chapters to the jurors.
The first chapter consisted of information on the nomination of the experts.
The second related to the coordination between Casha and the NFI. The third chapter is on the preservation and assessment of the crime scene, as well as the protective clothing worn by the officers. Other chapters relate to the aerial videos taken of the site and the analysis carried out inside and outside the victim’s family home.
Prosecutor Godwin Cini asked Casha to elaborate on a certain part of the report, where then magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, had arrived at the scene, but later recused herself. Casha explained that on the day of the murder, he was instructed, in agreement with Scerri Herrera, to coordinate with NFI.
As he started requesting NFI to assist, he was told there should be a formal request through diplomatic channels.
Once the formal request was sent, the NFI agreed to send four experts over.
The first expert arrived on October 17, 2016, in the morning. The rest arrived later in the afternoon. In the meantime, the Maltese forensic experts were advised to preserve the crime scene as it was.
The jurors were then shown images of how the crime scene was initially divided into circles: the middle circle showed where the car had ended up.
The area was then divided into sectors, 1 to 27, and the SOCO teams were deployed. Each team was made up of one NFI expert, 2 SOCO experts and a soldier from the Armed Forces of Malta.
A photographer was assigned to each team, and the search was recorded on video. One other person logged each finding, while another person collected any evidence.
“The crime scene was a bit huge,” Casha told the jurors as he explained the different sectors set up using police tape.
Among the areas they analysed was Caruana Galizia’s family home and the vantage point from where the convicted hitmen kept a lookout.
Judge warns of disturbing images
Before the testimony proceeded to the next stage, Madam Justice Edwina Grima told the jurors that they were about to see some disturbing images, and that they could look away and then request to see them quietly while deliberating.
She also addressed the parte civile lawyers, saying that if any of the members of Caruana Galizia’s family want to leave, they could do so.
Finally, addressing the whole courtroom, the Criminal Court said: “I do not want any comments or gestures”.
Some of the family members opted to leave the courtroom, while two of her sisters remained inside for the first part. As images were projected on the screen, the sisters cried.
Only one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s sisters remained in the courtroom when they showed images and footage from the post-mortem examination.
Court was told that when the SOCOs arrived at the crime scene, there was a considerable number of people and debris.
Paramedics informed the officers that they had found “a part of a leg from above the knee to the foot” in the middle of the road, and that it was covered with a sheet.
“When you have this type of crime scene, you are bound to find human remains scattered,” Inspector Kevin Manicolo explained, as jurors saw photos of outsoles of all the shoes of those who were onsite before the SOCOs. The photos were taken since there was a possibility that they could have stepped on something.
The jurors were then shown a close-up of the car after the explosion with Daphne’s body still inside.
A tent was set up around the car to safeguard it against natural elements and contain the site, Manicolo explained.
When the forensic experts arrived, they analysed the car. Silence fell in the courtroom, as an officer scrolled through the photos projected on two screens.
“As we were analysing the car, located in sector 27, we found the lifeless body of the victim. She suffered extensive burns.
"The head and the torso were found between the passenger seat and the door, while the rest of the lower body was found between the driver seat and the dashboard. The right leg was found outside,” the sergeant explained.
Some jurors looked away, others covered their eyes. One of the accused stared attentively at the screen.
They also found small human bones outside the car.
Police constable Sean Micallef took a total of 180 photos as the car was analysed. Daphne’s body was removed from the car and placed in a body bag, which was sealed. It was later taken to the morgue.
The leg was placed in a different body bag since it was retrieved from a different sector.
Dutch experts took samples from the crater where the explosion took place using specialised chemicals.
The jurors were shown more photos of the crime scene and the different materials collected.
The searches started on October 18, at 9.30am and ended a day later at 2pm.
After a 15-minute break, the trial resumed with jurors being shown photos of the Police Compound at St Andrew’s, where Daphne's rented Peugeot 108 was transported after the analysis and kept.
They were also shown pieces of metal from the car that pierced through the road tarmac.
Human faeces, tissues near Caruana Galizia home
Near the victim’s house, the police found more cigarette butts and also human faeces and tissues, which were collected by the forensic experts.
A part of the car key and the car’s air conditioner were found in the middle road.
The constables who took videos using handheld cameras, documenting the whole process, then explained to the jurors what they were seeing in the videos.
These videos included the whole search carried out under the tent, the opening of the body bag at the morgue and the post-mortem examination on Caruana Galizia’s body.
Some of the jurors opted to look away or cover their eyes as the police officer scrolled through the video, and another one explained to them what they were seeing.
Before the forensics showed images from the morgue, the Criminal Court allowed the family members time to decide whether they wanted to sit inside or leave, with some opting to leave.
During the morning session, among the civilian witnesses and police witnesses, Raymond Schembri from Paradise Garage took the stand. Schembri had leased the car to Alfred Degiorgio.
He told the jurors he kept no records of the lease since every time a book was filled up, they would burn it to avoid a situation where “the bank details of past clients are placed at risk”.
The trial resumes on Monday morning.
Madam Justice Edwina Grima is presiding over the trial by jury.
Prosecutors Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Anthony Vella are prosecuting on behalf of the AG Office.
Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud is assisting Adrian Agius.
Lawyers Ishmael Psaila and Amadeus Cachia are assisting Jamie Vella.
Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin are assisting Robert Agius.
Lawyers Noel Bianco and Leslie Cuschieri are assisting George Degiorgio.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia is assisting the Caruana Galizia family.
Lawyer Vince Galea is assisting the Chircop family.