Xhieda ta’ Amy Mallia – 10 ta’ Diċembru 2019
L-Atti tal-Inkjesta datata 19 ta' Novembru 2019, rigward skont it- Termini ta’ Referenza ta’ l-Inkjesta Pubblika dwar l-Assassinju ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Seduta miżmuma llum it-Tlieta 10 ta’ Diċembru, 2019.
Amy Mallia, daughter of Mandy Mallia nee’ Vella and Pierre Mallia, born in Sliema and residing in Kappara on oath solemnly swears:
Imh. M. Mallia: Amy Mallia, bint Pierre u Mandy nee’ Vella, imwielda Tas- Sliema u residenti Kappara bl-Ingliz bil-gurament tghid.
Amy Mallia: Issa? Growing up with an aunt like Daphne made me accustomed to having to cope with hearing false rumours about my family and hateful commentary. When i was just seven (7) years old I was on holiday with my grandparents, mother, my sister and my aunt Helene and a Maltese person had seen me with my mother and grandfather and the rumours sprouted that my grandfather Michael Vella, Daphne’s father, had a secret family in Sicily. This was obviously a tactic used to make my family suffer and force Daphne to stop her work because we are being affected. Another incident that I remember taking place was when I was around nine (9) or ten (10) years old. Daphne and the rest of her family and I were at the airport to see one of her sons before he left to study abroad and a woman used her laptop to take photos of us as we said out goodbyes, because it was at this time that Daphne really started into becoming more recognisable in public.
In the month leading up to the 2013 general elections, the Labour Party used heavily photo shopped photos of Daphne’s face on billboards to cause people to pick on her
looks and make her face more known. This eventually led to her being unable to leave the house and go out unrecognised. I had to see such billboards as I was being driven to school by my parents which affected me emotionally even more.
On eighteenth (18) February 2017 Daphne and I were in Valletta together walking her dog. As we were walking down the street I remember hearing people whisper that I was an illegitimate daughter of hers. This happened on multiple occasions over the years so it was not an isolated event. On the same day Daphne had stopped in Republic Street to clean up her dog’s dirt and I felt anxious and kept looking around to see if anyone was taking photos of her doing that so they could ridicule her later on. This sounds extreme, but in reality people had on countless occasions uploaded photos of her doing even the simplest of tasks such as eating at restaurants with her friends.
Even on the evening before her assassination Neville Gafa’ uploaded photos of her and my uncle Peter taken in Floriana that day. Neville Gafa’ who works in the office – who works within the office of the Prime Minister is the same man who uploaded photos of Facebook of Daphne and I on the eighteenth (18) of February 2017. As this time I was a fourteen (14) year old minor and the fact that he uploaded my photos on social media without my parents consent is an invasion of privacy and disturbing to me.
On another occasion my sister, mother and aunts Corinne and Helene were walking Daphne’s dog and were stopped by animal welfare. When we were asked who the dog belonged to, we didn’t answer as we were not sure how they would react when they found out he would belong to or why they even wanted to know. The fact why we were so hesitant is mainly due to the fact that this was in winter 2017 when Daphne was having legal action taken against her particularly by people in high positions within the
government and I was worried that they would take her dog away.
In February 2017 Chris Cardona and his aids Joseph Gerada filed precautionary warrants that resulted in Daphne’s assets being completely frozen. When I found out about this I immediately began feeling anxious and concerned about how she was expected to pay bills, taxes and keep up with the general cost of living. In my eyes it was a way to block her access to resources and to get her to give up. Later on, on the twenty seventh (27) May 2017 I was at my cousin Andrew Caruana Galizia’s wedding reception and this was a bit late in the evening when around three (3) or four
(4) policemen came into the building. My immediate thought was that they were here to arrest Daphne for no reason. I later found out that they had come to tell us to quieten down. This fear that the police were going to arrest her stems from seeing her picked on and being arrested illegally after dark on the eve of the March 2013 election and of her being made the scape goat in general.
Daphne was continuously and viciously vilified and attacked throughout her adult life and continues to be attacked even over two (2) years after her assassination. As a result of all of this my family was and is to this very day a target of hate and threats. Such a scenario is in February 2018 when I was at school and I was told that it would have been better if a bomb was placed under my seat too.
Imh. A. Lofaro: I am sorry, I did not understand that.
Amy Mallia: I was at school in February 2018 and a classmate told me that it would have been better if a bomb was placed under my seat too.
Imh. M. Mallia: If you won’t?
Dr. T. Comodini Cachia: If a bomb was placed under her seat too. Imh. M. Mallia: Oh.
Amy Mallia: And later on in that year, around May, I was a meme with Daphne’s face on with the words: Heqq ma hemmx
x’taghmel, ghollowha m’Alla, straight to Hell o witch. By someone at school. That is my statement. Thank you.
Imh. J. Said Pullicino: One moment. You mentioned Neville Gafa’. What you mentioned there was something you heard not something you experienced no?
Amy Mallia: No, I basically I was in Valletta with Daphne and he had . . . Imh. J. Said Pullicino: But do you know Neville Gafa’? You know who he is? Amy Mallia: Yes I know who he is.
Imh. J. Said Pullicino: Ok. What happened?
Amy Mallia: Basically what had happened was I was with Daphne in Valletta and later on that day when he uploaded photos of me – basically I am still a minor, and I was at the time too . .
Imh. A. Lofaro: But how do you know it was him? That is what he is asking you.
Amy Mallia: They were on his Facebook page. I didn’t say he took them.
I like said that he uploaded them.
Imh. A. Lofaro: Ok. Thank you. Imh. M. Mallia: Thank you.