Daphne Caruana Galizia claims Jason Micallef lied under oath

Daphne Caruana Galizia yesterday told a court she was shocked to hear the head of One Television, Jason Micallef lie twice under oath when he claimed he did not know she was a journalist and that he was present during an incident which gave rise to the court case.

Mrs Caruana Galizia took the witness stand in a case where she stands charged with criminal libel by the police on the request of One reporter Charlon Gouder.

Mr Gouder claims that while the One TV cameraman, Byon Jo Zammit, was filming her on March 2, 2010, she uttered words which he found to be defamatory.

One of the people who have testified in the case was the head of One Television station and former Labour Party general secretary Jason Micallef.

Mrs Caruana Galizia said she was shocked when she heard him say under oath that he had been on the scene of the incident because it was a lie. So was his assertion that he didn’t know she was a journalist, when she had known him for the past 20 years.

She said that on the day in question she had just left the court house together with her sisters Hellina and Corinne, her husband Peter and her lawyer Roberto Montalto when they were followed by the One news cameraman, Mr Zammit.

He followed them incessantly for half an hour and in an attempt to shake him off they walked down Santa Luċija Street and back up to Republic Street but he wouldn’t stop.

Mr Zammit was also recording a private conversation between her and Dr Montalto, she said.

One of her sisters walked up to a police inspector and asked her to intervene and stop the harassment, when all of the sudden Mr Gouder appeared out of nowhere, spoke to the inspector and the two of them walked off together. This was quite unbelievable, she added.

She had spotted Mr Gouder and was about to question him about a YouTube video claiming he had a filed a police report about some woman stealing his wallet at 2 a.m. in Albert Town in Marsa, when he moved away from her.

She then directed the question at the camera with the intention of spoiling the footage so they wouldn’t use it. She told the court that she asked “Where is Charlon Gouder? Is he with a prostitute again?”

She also denied Mr Zammit’s previous testimony in which he said the question was repeated and that she had insulted him too.

One Television had a problem with her because they claimed to be journalists when they were not; they were part of a propaganda machine and she was the journalist, she said.

The case continues.