Degiorgio Names Cardona And Schembri In 2017 Plot But Contradicts Previous Statements And Timelines

George Degiorgio, the convicted hitman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, took the stand and did the opposite of his brother, Alfred. He testified combatively, selectively, and with a claim never heard before: that Chris Cardona personally confirmed to him that Keith Schembri had sent Melvin Theuma.

The claim, and Degiorgio’s credibility on it, were demolished in the same breath. George’s account of Cardona’s words had never been said before across his multiple sworn testimonies, a detail he admitted he deliberately withheld. 

His testimony started off confrontational. He told the court he would answer questions only on the 2015 plot and would answer nothing about his brother.

“I wanted to tell this morning. I was going to answer the defence and not the prosecution,” he said.

“Have you got another 40 years?” Degiorgio told Judge Edwina Grima when reminded that refusing to testify would result in criminal charges. He talked anyway.

He said Melvin Theuma came to the Marsa potato shed in around April or May 2017 “to kill Daphne”. George said he asked Theuma who had sent him, and Theuma named Schembri. 

“He told us softly ‘Keith Schembri sent me’” George claimed.

But George said he did not take Theuma’s word for it after the 2015 failed plan. He said he went with David Gatt to Chris Cardona – one of the men who, on his account, had commissioned him to murder Daphne in 2015 – to verify who had sent Theuma.

“I asked him who sent Melvin Theuma, and Cardona told me: Keith Schembri,” he said.

Asked who was in the group behind the murder, George listed six: himself, Vince Muscat, Theuma, David Gatt, Cardona and Schembri. “The same people, in both plots,” he said. 

“They’re not going to engage another man, it doesn’t suit them. So they engaged Melvin instead of coming themselves.”

Asked directly why Theuma wanted Caruana Galizia dead, he replied: “Because of Keith Schembri, obviously. She is going to destroy the party

Six years of silence

Prosecution lawyer Godwin Cini went straight at the obvious problem. Degiorgio’s conviction became final in November 2023. Police approached him in December 2023 and February 2024; he gave a statement in March 2024; he testified before Magistrate Rachel Montebello, who oversaw the compilation of evidence, in May 2024, and twice before Magistrate Victor Axiak, in June and September 2025.

In none of it, Cini said, did he give this account. George’s answer was an admission of deliberate withholding: “Because I didn’t want to say everything — so he’d arrest people, like they did to us.” He said he had given investigators only a fragment, a message he never saw, which David Gatt told him came from Schembri “because I know I’ll testify again.”

George insisted he had tried to talk from the beginning. He said that when he first asked for a pardon he named the men — “and they threw me out. They told us it’s not credible; nobody wants to hear anything.”

2017 v 2015: George’s Conflicting Memories

George’s memory of 2017 was far thinner than of 2015. On everything after the commissioning – how they prepared, how she died, the six men’s actual roles – he answered “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”, and refused questions touching his brother.

“I met Melvin Theuma twice. I don’t know where Alfred met him,” he said.

Of David Gatt, who Muscat testified would make a “number one” gesture at the shed referring to Schembri: “He’s one of us. He was an idiot, he was crazy — truly, he was happy,” George said.

He claimed Cardona had promised more than money: two containers of contraband cigarettes a year through the Freeport, and the Tal-Fekruna petrol station in Xemxija. 

“Cardona told us: that’s what we’ll work on,” he said, adding that Cardona “called the Freeport in front of us”.

Prison, bail and the arrest

George said the hitmen knew of their December 2017 arrest three weeks in advance, because Theuma told them; and that Theuma told them to keep their heads high. Asked why: “Because we have the help.” From whom? “Cardona and Keith Schembri, we assumed.”

He confirmed speaking to Theuma by phone from prison, describing the calls as unremarkable. “Yes, we received things while in prison. But I don’t know where it was from,” he said.

“And who was paying your lawyer William Cuschieri? Where did that money come from?” Godwin Cini asked.

“From heaven. I don’t know where. From heaven.” he replied.

He confirmed information reached them in prison about their bail request. David Gatt, he said, would visit “with the excuse that he was a lawyer” and was the one certain bail would come.

 “Go to Chris Cardona and Keith Schembri to get bail,” George said of the talk at the time. “They had the power.”

2015 plan:

He provided his most detailed account yet of the alleged 2015 plot. It began, he said, when David Gatt came to tell him that Chris Cardona wanted to meet him about a “job”.

“We went to meet him at Portomaso. We went down the long staircase, sat down and had a drink. He told me: I want you to kill Daphne. I asked him: who is she? He said David would tell me,” Degiorgio said.

On the €150,000 price, George quoted Cardona telling him, in vulgar terms, to enjoy the money — “isn’t it passport money?” Asked why he wanted her dead, George said Cardona told him: “Because she’ll break our party.”

Cardona, he said, also made a gesture referring to the Commissioner and pointed his finger upwards. George said he did not know at the time what it meant, later assumed it referred to the Police Commissioner.

Under questioning from the defence team, he named Keith Schembri as being part of the plot. 

George said a €50,000 deposit was agreed, and that days later, at the same Portomaso spot, Cardona left him a packet containing the money. He said he kept a share for expenses and gave Muscat and Jamie Vella €10,000 each, adding, pointedly: “This Vince won’t confirm.”

George said that they collected a 50,000 euro deposit a few days later. He said they watched her for a while but could not keep track. The plan, he added, was to stop her in the road and shoot her. 

He said that David Gatt told him to stop plan when an election was called. In 2015, there was the local council elections, but that date was decided well before that year.

The plan was to stop Caruana Galizia in the road at a dip near her home and have Vella shoot her from a van; the weapon was never decided. Gatt fed them information he said came from Schembri, including that she worked at a magazine near the regional road. They saw her once, gave chase, and lost her.

“What a show Vince made yesterday. He spoke about a lot. Did he mentioned what happened to Tat-Tyson? How his own family killed him? How his own 15-year-old son did it?” he told jurors. 

Jonathan Pace, who operated Tyson Butcher, was murdered in August 2014 in a drive by shooting in an SUV. He had been accused of the attempted murder of Vince Muscat, who was shot outside his house in April on that year.

Contradicting Vince Muscat

There were repeated contradictions with the testimony of Vince Muscat. George said he was “certain” the €30,000 deposit came before the 2017 election, Muscat testified it came after. He said he alone set the €150,000 price, consulting no one. 

He denied outright Muscat’s evidence that he sent fake messages to Caruana Galizia: “Vince testified yesterday that I sent the message to Daphne. He testified for seven years and never mentioned it. You’re false.”

Asked how he knew what Muscat had said the day before, George — who is serving his sentence in prison — replied: “From the news, of course.”.

He was openly hostile throughout the sitting, showing clear animosity for Cini, who he blamed for sentencing him to life in prison over the murder of Carmel Chircop.

“How do you sleep at night?” George asked. The courtroom was incredulous.