Courtroom Falls Silent As Daphne’s Damaged Phone And Photos Of Her Wrecked Car Shown To Jury

Distressing evidence related to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination has just been presented to the jury during today’s ongoing trial, with the journalist’s phone and car taking centre stage.

This morning, Scene of Crime Officers took the stand to detail how investigators examined Caruana Galizia’s bomb-ravaged car, later keeping it in a secure, sealed compound. Only court-appointed experts were allowed to look at the Peugeot 108’s remains, and every time examinations were carried out over the course of three days, the seal was broken, the vehicle examined and then resealed.

Police Constable Clinton Vella even told the court that investigators rented an identical car to compare it with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s destroyed vehicle and identify any “foreign” parts which they would ascertain belong to the explosive instead of the car. A number of points were brought up to prove that the bomb had indeed been placed under the driver’s seat, such as the hand-break of the car being found pushed up by the force of the blast.

About half an hour later, Vella returned to talk about Daphne’s phone, which was recovered near the tyre of the car’s wreck.

The highly damaged phone, which was sent to the Netherlands Forensic Institute for any sort of preservation works on key components, was returned to Malta one month later. The phone itself was then shown to the court as an exhibit.

As the courtroom fell silent at the sight of such evidence, distressed crying could be heard from outside as one of Daphne’s sisters left the hall in tears.

Today marks the ninth day of Yorgen Fenech’s jury trial over the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, with Lovin Malta uploading constant updates on a live blog as we continue to report from the Valletta Law Courts.

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READ NEXT: Live Blog: Day 9 of Yorgen Fenech's Trial Into Daphne Caruana Galizia's Murder

David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's former Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).