Arnaud Details How the Investigation Began Following Caruana Galizia's Murder
In the case against Yorgen Fenech, Inspector Keith Arnaud recounted to the jury how the investigation began following the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Bidnija.
Arnaud Details How the Investigation Began Following Caruana Galizia's Murder
In the case against Yorgen Fenech, Inspector Keith Arnaud recounted to the jury how the investigation began following the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Bidnija.
Arnaud, who took charge of the Homicide Department in October 2017, said that authorities were notified of the explosion shortly before 3pm on 16 of that month. The first response was to seal off the site where the incident occurred, and then it was verified that the deceased person was the journalist herself.
The initial steps of the investigation focused on how the bomb was triggered. The police team wanted to know whether there was a phone, message, watch or other system that played a part. To help with this, experts from the FBI were invited to analyse telecommunications data. The police obtained records from all companies offering mobile services in the area.
Immediately, the investigation team made an important decision: no evidence at the scene of the incident would be moved until foreign experts arrived. Arnaud explained that the site was protected by local and military law enforcement forces, whilst experts from the FBI, Europol and the Netherlands took part in the process.
Despite the destruction left behind by the explosion, the police quickly reached the conclusion that the device was inside the vehicle. Later, they identified exactly where it had detonated by observing a crater in the road and reconstructing how the car had been moving after the blast.
The court also heard testimony about Daphne's final moments. Arnaud said that her son Matthew had informed them that his mother had left the house shortly before the explosion. She had gone back inside because she had forgotten an object, and then left again.
The investigators also searched for locations from where someone might have been observing the house from a distance. They found an ideal spot near the Vittoria Lines, where there was a clear view of the door and the garage without anyone being visible. Arnaud noted that after the explosion, journalists were using the same elevation to take photographs.
Whilst examining the area, they had a conversation with a person living in the vicinity. This resident said that he had seen a suspicious vehicle parked in the location for several days. He noted that the car's registration ended with "QZ". The vehicle was there in the morning of 16 October but did not remain afterwards.
According to the inspector, the location described by the witness offered a direct view towards the house's door and garage. The night before the murder, Matthew had parked his mother's car outside the door, which meant that any observer could have seen when she was going to take the car.
A magisterial inquiry began immediately under Magistrate Anthony Vella. Local and foreign experts were called to examine the scene.
Fenech, who is being accused of being involved in the killing and of being part of a criminal group, is still proceeding with the case.
Source: Lovin Malta