A police inspector has told a court that they found nothing on Kevin Ellul better known as “Double O” when investigating him.
The trial by jury of four men who stand accused of their different roles in the murders of lawyer Carmel Chircop and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia resumed on Monday, with the trial entering its tenth day.
Brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, better known as Ta’ Maksar, along with associates Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio, are all facing different charges in connection with Chircop’s murder.
Adrian Agius is accused of commissioning the hit on the lawyer, which prosecutors allege was carried out with the complicity of his brother Robert, along with Vella and Degiorgio.
Robert Agius and George Degiorgio (iċ-Ċiniż) are accused of supplying the bomb in Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
All four men deny the charges.
One of Monday’s witnesses was police inspector Wayne Camilleri, who coordinated the operation from within the Police headquarters.
He explained that he entered the investigation in the same week that the Agius brothers and Vella were arrested. A relative of convicted hitman Vince Muscat, who has been handed a 15-year prison term in connection with the journalist’s murder and a presidential pardon in Chircop’s case, was asked to identify Robert Agius from an identification parade.
Muscat’s father-in-law, Peter Brincat, was allegedly approached by a “blonde” individual, who he suspected was one of the Agius brothers. The man did not identify anyone in the identification parade.
The witness also testified when Robert Agius released a statement saying that two prisoners – Melchior Spiteri and Brandon Cachia – approached him with information on the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. The police interrogated both Cachia and Spiteri, who testified in the trial last week. Cachia had told Agius that his former girlfriend Nicole Brignone, had once told him that the bomb was made by Ellul.
In his testimony, the police inspector highlighted that Brignone, who dated both Ellul and Cachia at the same time, gave a different version of events. Camilleri underlined that Brignone had said Ellul was approached before the assassination and refused to take part.
Acting on information given by Brignone in the magisterial inquiry, the police requested an arrest warrant for Ellul. The man was abroad and was only arrested upon his return from Sicily. The police searched his Mellieħa residence but found nothing illegal.
Ellul was also interrogated and exercised his right to silence. However, before they took him down to the lock up, the man asked to release a statement. In his second statement, Ellul insisted that he did not know the Degiorgio brothers, who are convicted in the Caruana Galizia case.
He also underlined that he would not be able to recognise them nor did he ever contact them in any way. Brignone on her end, had mentioned that Ellul was approached to join in the assassination but refused and had also testified about the Degiorgio brothers calling him from prison using clandestine phones.
Ellul also took the witness stand in the jury last week and told the panel of jurors that he is the target of a "frame-up" originating from prison.
Camilleri was cross-examined by defence lawyer Rene Darmanin, who sought answers on what police investigations were carried out into Ellul. Darmanin reminded the witness that Brignone had given first a statement and then chose to retract the oath and give a second statement on the same day.
The police inspector said that Brignone would frequently emphasise her history with drug use when pressed for details. Camilleri said she would frequently tell them that she did not remember exactly, adding that she was using heavy drugs at the time.
When asked about her request for protection, Camilleri said this was not seen as necessary since at the time the woman was in a residential rehabilitation programme, and therefore it was “secure”. He could not recall why the woman requested protection.
The defence recalled that Brignone alleged Ellul was involved in drug trafficking, had weapons and dabbled in explosives.
“When Ellul was arrested and searched, the police found nothing. We had nothing on him,” Camilleri said.
He was asked whether Ellul’s wife was investigated, since Brignone said she would import drugs for her husband. “I for sure no,” came the answer, with the inspector adding that Brignone had told them he had a rocky relationship with his wife at the time. She even told them that she had no idea he was married when she met him.
“Whenever pressed, she became defensive and would speak about her drug use,” Camilleri added, saying that the inquiring magistrate at the time was not convinced and that is why they took more than one statement from her.
The inspector explained that the police had only the details she provided them and the woman could not recall where the other garage allegedly owned by Ellul where he opened the drugs in front of her was.
Asked whether they investigated an incident where he allegedly shot at her and missed at her house, Camilleri said that although she mentioned the incident she could not recall the date or details. Moreover, she did not file any police reports.
The inspector also said that while Brignone said Ellul allegedly wanted to take revenge on the Agius brothers, she could not recall which area or locality they had allegedly scouted. The woman said that Agius lived in an area full of CCTV but the police could not proceed further.
“He [Ellul] always denied his involvement,” Camilleri said, adding that what Brignone said had said on Ellul fleeing to Italy did not make sense.
“If anyone wants to abscond they do not go to Italy but choose a country where there is no mutual extradition agreement. From Italy, you can easily bring them over to face charges in Malta,” Camilleri explained.
The police were never informed about illegal phones being found in the possession of the Degiorgio brothers while in prison and all their phone calls from the prison phone had been listened to and there was nothing worth flagging.
“We took action on the information we had on Ellul and nothing came out,” Camilleri said.
Darmanin then asked him about a declaration Robert Agius made on January 31, 2024. Agius reportedly claimed that Vincent Cucciardi was offered €40,000 in drugs by Ellul to say that Agius placed the bomb. Camilleri confirms that Cucciardi and Juanito Jimenez were investigated in connection with the claim but the investigation resulted in the negative.
Lawyer Amadeus Cachia cross-examined the witness on behalf of Vella, who also asked him similar questions on Ellul.
The lawyer then asked whether the police sent for Alfred Degiorgio, when investigating Ellul, to which the witness replied that he did not send for him but could not testify about what others did in the investigation.
On Monday, Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi took the stand.
Curmi wrote a report analysing whether the bombs placed between 2014 and 2018 were linked, and had analysed the remains of the bomb in a bid to understand how they were manufactured.
The brigadier explained that very particular pieces were identified in the remains in three bombs – the one which maimed Romeo Bone in Msida, the one used in Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the bomb which targeted Ellul – suggested that they were linked in manufacturing.
There are three types of bombs or improvised explosive devices, Curmi told the jury, saying that these could be either timed, victim-operated and command. The timed would be connected to a clock or mobile phone and detonates at a specific moment in time. The second category would detonate after detecting movement and the third is self-explanatory.
Curmi found no firing switch in the 2018 bomb which caused injuries to Ellul. He explained that this could mean that it was either placed at the farmhouse and detonated when Ellul entered the property, or else someone else activated when he entered the evidence or it was his own bomb. In his testimony, the brigadier underlined that there were different possibilities and could establish whether for example that Ellul was injured due to a premature explosion.
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 assiting 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.