This is how the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta was conceived: a rifle, a bomb and 150,000 euros

The confessed murderer of the Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia sat down this Thursday in a court in Valletta, the capital of the country, where he revealed the details of how the murder of the reporter, who died at the age of 53, was prepared. of a bomb planted in his car in October 2017. Vincent Muscat - already sentenced to 15 years in prison -, one of the perpetrators of the reporter's death, has assured that they had been spying and monitoring the movements of the police with binoculars and telescopes for months. Caruana Galizia before her death, according to the British newspaper

The Guardian

.

"Alfred Degiorgio [one of the defendants] approached me and said there was a good job for me," Muscat said in front of the jury, dozens of journalists and some relatives of the investigative journalist, including her sisters, her son Matthew and her husband Peter.

According to the local press, which followed the view inside room 22 of the Maltese court, that job was to kill Caruana Galizia for an agreed price of 150,000 euros before the general elections because the reporter had planned to "publish something."

"The plan was to follow in her footsteps and shoot her when the time was right," said Muscat, who also revealed that they gave him a brown leather bag in which there were 30,000 euros in 50-euro bills, as an advance.

"We took 10,000 euros each and started working," he says, referring to himself and the two Degiorgio brothers, who were also in the room.

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Muscat, wearing a bulletproof vest and escorted by three police officers, according to

The Times of Malta

, has revealed what the surveillance days were like.

They sat on bricks in the vicinity of Caruana Galizia's house.

"It was uncomfortable and it hurt," he continued.

They leaned against a wall, from where they contemplated the town in which the journalist lived.

They followed her through the island's cafes, where they saw her working with her mobile and her computer.

"He worked until two in the morning," Muscat said.

The condemned man has revealed that the three involved spent their time smoking, sometimes eating.

"We eliminated the butts in bottles of water so as not to leave any traces", no DNA evidence near the crime scene that could put them in the eye of the investigators' target.

A plan with a bomb

“The plan was for Alfred [Degiorgio] to shoot from under a tree.

I'd take him out of the scene in a stolen car.

As soon as he fired, he would have to open the door in order to escape, ”Muscat confessed.

But George Degiorgio, according to the witness, began to "make excuses" such as that the gun was too loud.

They eventually abandoned that plan and came to the conclusion that a bomb was the best option.

“George Degiorgio always wanted a bomb.

You put a bomb at night and you go.

Quieter, men

You panic, ”Muscat summed up.

The two brothers Digiorgio and Muscat sought the help of Jamie Vella, who last month pleaded not guilty to complicity in the murder, to obtain the bomb.

The explosive "looked like it had been imported," he said.

"The bomb came with a mobile phone and it had a switch," he said to explain how the detonation system worked, which consisted of sending a message to the bomb's SIM card and that it would explode "seconds later."

The weeks passed, the elections were approaching and Caruana Galizia was still alive and about to "publish something", has contextualized Muscat who has confessed that they pressured him to commit the murder, although at the time of the explosion the reporter was accompanied.

The detonation of the device on October 16, 2017 was brutal, according to images released to the press.

And it is that Muscat has explained that they adhered an oil drum to the explosives to make the scene more dramatic and cruel.

During the hearing, Muscat apologized to the Caruana Galizia family present there, and once again acknowledged his authorship: "I admitted all the charges against me and they have sentenced me," he said.