Matthew Caruana Galizia gave jurors a harrowing account of the moments leading up to and immediately after his mother’s murder, recalling how he ran towards the smoke after hearing the explosion that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia.Testifying in the trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech, Caruana Galizia said his mother had prepared a mozzarella and tomato salad before receiving a phone call from the bank.He recalled her leaving the house, returning for her chequebook, and then leaving again for the last time.“I was working on some software and I heard an explosion,” he told the court.At first, he thought it was a gas explosion. But when he opened the door, he said he felt “the blood drain away” and began walking faster and faster towards the tower of smoke.He described seeing fire on the road, pieces of metal and flesh, before following the smoke with his eyes and seeing a huge ball of fire.The horn of the car was still going off and would not stop.“I saw a shadow in the car and I remember saying ‘that’s my mum’,” he told jurors.Caruana Galizia recalled seeing a police car arrive, shouting at an officer, and seeing another policeman start crying.He said he sat on the road and tried calling his father because he was worried his family would learn what had happened from the news.His father did not answer.Caruana Galizia said he then called his younger brother, but could not bring himself to tell him what had happened. Instead, he asked him to find their father and come to the house.“After that, I remember nothing,” he said, later recalling an argument with a man who was taking photos of the explosion on his phone.By the time he found the strength to return to the house, police officers were everywhere, he said.Caruana Galizia was also asked about the aftermath of the murder and the process of identifying the investigations his mother had been working on at the time.He said police investigator Keith Arnaud had asked the family to draw up a list of Daphne’s active investigations, with as much detail as possible.Preparing that list was “a horrible experience”, he said.The investigation that concerned him most was Electrogas, he told the court, adding that the two investigations that followed on the list were also related to Electrogas.He also spoke about the Daphne Project, the international collaborative effort by journalists to continue his mother’s work after her assassination.Caruana Galizia said he continued receiving leaked Electrogas information after the murder, including an email sent at 4pm on the day Caruana Galizia was killed.Some internal Electrogas emails alluded to the murder, the court was told, while another email from 2018 showed Yorgen Fenech asking a PR executive for his views on 17 Black reporting in the media.Caruana Galizia said the murder had turned his life upside down.“Ever since that day, it’s been a disaster,” he said.He said he had been a regular person before the murder, going to work, going on holiday and spending time with friends. After the murder, he said, everything changed.“My life became about pursuing justice, about the investigation,” he told the court.He said he felt an enormous sense of responsibility and an overwhelming urgency to work, leaving his job and ending his career to return to Malta and focus his energy on the case.“I want this to be over, once and for all. I want justice,” he said.“Honestly, if something happens to me, I don’t care. As long as I get justice for my mum, I can just disappear. After that, nothing else made sense.”The prosecution had no further questions for Matthew Caruana Galizia.The court then ordered a 15-minute break. When the hearing resumes, Caruana Galizia is expected to be questioned by the defence.Fenech is accused of complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder and involvement in a criminal organisation. He denies the charges.•