Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia said today that she reported former MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to the police after he harassed her with several messages leading her to fear for her safety.

Ms Caruana Galizia was testifying in libel proceedings instituted against her by Dr Pullicino Orlando over a blog which appeared on October 20, 2014 entitled "Marco Cremona wants to focus on his business and can't tell us what he thinks about Labour policy."

She confirmed that she had written the blog and declared that the facts mentioned there were true. Dr Pullicino Orlando himself had often told her before the 2008 general election that Mr Cremona was a close friend.

Daphne Caruana GaliziaDaphne Caruana Galizia

She explained that the allegedly defamatory comment, 'What a slimey jerk!' with reference to Marco Cremona, was written whilst bearing in mind that before the general election this man used to voice his opinion regarding his field of specialisation as an independent professional. After the change of administration Mr Cremona fell silent, no longer speaking out in favour of the environment and water.

Referring to an allegedly defamatory comment under the same article, concerning the government job granted by Dr Pullicino Orlando to his girlfriend, Ms Caruana Galizia said that this comment had been posted by a reader under the name of 'Joanna'. She did not know her.

Ms Caruana Galizia said that following the publication of the blog, Dr Pullicino Orlando had embarked upon an "obsessive" series of abusive messages in her regard. Rather than use common sense to flag the removal of the allegedly offensive article, Dr Pullicino Orlando began to send her text messages at minute intervals.

She had filed a report at the Mosta police station since the taunting and incessant messages from Dr Pullicino Orlando caused her to fear for her own safety. The officer who drew up the report had subsequently summoned Dr Pullicino Orlando to the police station and had given him a warning.

She said Dr Pullicino Orlando kept abusing her on his Facebook page, apparently relishing the prospect of making her go through the hassle of court proceedings for defamation.

Replying to a question by Dr Pullicino Orlando's lawyer, Ms Caruana Galizia explained that she depended on flagging by her readers to alter or remove any information that iswas incorrect or inaccurate. Online news could be corrected immediately, unlike printed material.

Neither Dr Pullicino Orlando nor Mr Cremona had ever asked her to remove the allegedly offensive material.

Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel assisted the defendant.

Lawyer Stephanie Abela appeared for the plaintiff.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.