One of the Maksar brothers had just returned from 'a retreat' in Sicily when he was arrested outside a Żebbuġ garage where a police search was underway barely two months after Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb explosion.

Details were given in court on Tuesday by a police inspector during the compilation of evidence against Robert and Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio who are facing charges linked to their involvement in the 2017 murder as well as the 2015 murder of Birkirkara lawyer Carmel Chircop.

Inspector Malcolm Bondin, who was tasked with leading that raid on December 4, 2017, recalled the early morning search and the subsequent arrest of Anton Cachia, the man who held the keys to the fairly sizable property.

He testified that around 9.15am, while officers were sifting through the contents of the garage that consisted mostly of cars and vehicle parts, a black car drove past, catching his eye.

He recognized Adrian Agius, one of the Maksar brothers who was also targeted by an arrest warrant at the time.

The inspector promptly called chief investigator Keith Arnaud who instructed him to proceed with Agius’s arrest should the suspect turn up again.

And that was precisely what Bondin did as soon as soon as the black car drove past the garage a second time.

Asked about Agius’ reaction upon being told that he was being arrested in connection with the Caruana Galizia assassination, Bondin said that there was no fuss.

Agius had explained that he had just got back from a retreat in Sicily and seeing the police presence around the garage, had dropped by to check, his car still loaded with clothes and bags of dirty laundry from the trip, the witness recalled.

Assistant Commissioner was among the first at scene of Caruana Galizia murder

Former Assistant Commissioner Martin Sammut, who was next to testify, said that within “maximum eight minutes” of the call about the Bidnija explosion at around 3.00pm on October 16, 2017, he was on site.

His first reaction was to grab a fire extinguisher in an attempt to put out the flames leaping from the vehicle in the middle of the fields.

But it was futile.

“The car was one big blaze, said Sammut, recalling how help from various police units was soon on site.

A young man, highly agitated, had run down towards the burning vehicle, shouting that it was his mother in there.

It was Matthew Caruana Galizia.

“So my one plus one was that the person inside the car was Daphne Caruana Galizia,” explained the witness, recalling his brief conversation with the victim’s son whom they tried to calm down.

Once the flames were put out, he could see a figure inside the wreckage but it had been reduced to “a skeleton, so badly charred” making identification impossible.

Pieces of burnt human flesh were scattered around the crime scene which Sammut assisted in preserving while forensic experts, along with Europol officers, worked late into the night.

The court also heard that George Degiorgio, one of the hitmen who allegedly sent the SMS to activate the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia, had requested a mobile top up from a friend that October morning.

That friend, Miguel Caruana testified that he had received a call from Degiorgio at around 11.30am and he had bought the requested top-up voucher from a Tarxien bazaar just before closing time.

He had scratched that voucher and sent the top-up to Degiorgio via SMS, Caruana explained.  

Some two months after that episode, Caruana’s home was searched and personal possessions seized, including a hard disc containing unique family photos which, to date, had not yet been returned by police, the disgruntled witness concluded.

Tuesday’s sitting was rounded off with the testimony of a mother who witnessed the Bidnija explosion while driving her 4-year old daughter from school.

Charlene Abela was just about to head down Bidnija valley when a car hurtled out of an alley, right past her.

She was following the other driver at a close distance, “roughly the length of the courtroom,” when she spotted a “spark, like a small explosion” beneath the car in front of her, prompting her to instinctively slow down.

Then suddenly as the other car gathered speed, a very loud explosion followed and the witness spotted “something big,” being flung from the exploded vehicle, sideways to the left, indicating the size of that object with her hands.

As the victim’s car ploughed through the fields, the witness spotted another vehicle driving in the opposite direction.

The driver, an elderly man, had barely been missed by the burning vehicle.

Both he and the witness were in a state of shock, she recalled, adding that their first reaction was to call the Mosta police station for help.

She later headed home, driving back through Bidnija and was among the first to testify the next day at the magisterial inquiry.

The case continues next week.