One of the man accused of supplying the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia is insisting that there is evidence confirming his innocence.

“Would I escape today when there is evidence showing that I am innocent?,” a lawyer representing Robert Agius (known as Ta' Maksar) pleaded in court on Monday when making a fresh request for bail.   

Agius, alongside his brother Adrian, their alleged associate Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio are undergoing criminal proceedings linking them to the journalist’s 2017 murder and that of lawyer Carmel Chircop, who was gunned down inside a Birkirkara garage complex in October 2015.

Vella, together with Robert Agius also stand separately accused of supplying the explosive device used in the 2017 car bomb explosion that killed Caruana Galizia.

Both brothers and Vella have been under preventive custody since their arraignment in February 2021.

Now Agius is claiming that there is fresh evidence pointing to his innocence.

Soon after the journalist’s murder, the brothers were among a number of persons who were arrested but subsequently released.

It appeared that investigators had no evidence against them then, argued Agius’ lawyer, Alfred Abela.

It was only when self-confessed hitman Vincent Muscat “suddenly woke up” and spoke out that the brothers were charged, he observed.

The prosecution’s fear of absconding was based on “assumptions,” said the lawyer, poking holes in the prosecution’s arguments that Agius had contacts abroad.

As for the fear of tampering with evidence, he said that between 2017 and his arrest in 2021, there was “more than enough time” for the then-suspected person to tamper with evidence, had he wanted to.

And as for the prosecution’s claims that Agius ran a “criminal organization,” complete with a money counting machine found at his residence, would “he keep that at home”, questioned the lawyer.

“This man has a wife and three young children,” went on Abela, adding that his client would not just abandon his family to abscond.

Agius would certainly not escape today when there was evidence pointing at his innocence, insisted the lawyer.

The prosecution’s case rested on “one witness,” whereas the defence could produce more than one witness, “all corroborating each other.”

Earlier, lawyer George Camilleri from the Attorney General's office, argued that such a claim only strengthened the prosecution’s fear that the accused could tamper with evidence.

He exhibited a copy of a judgment delivered recently in constitutional proceedings filed by Adrian Agius, where Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale turned down the applicant’s claim that his rights were breached through the repeated denial of bail.

The prosecution lawyer also told the court how the Maksar brothers would spend time at the Marsa potato shed, where the December 2017 police raids took place, keeping an eye on the catamaran trips to and from Sicily so as to monitor their alleged drug trade.

After hearing submissions, Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti declared that the court would deliver a decree in chambers.

Lawyers Alfred Abela, Rene’ Darmanin and Ishmael Psaila are counsel to Agius.