I had traveled to Malta for business. I added a few days to my itinerary so that I might sneak over to Sicily to tour for a bit. I would then fly back to Malta, spend the night, and catch my morning flight back to the U.S.
When I arrived back in Malta from my time in Sicily, I checked into a hotel and then headed out walking in the capital city of Valletta, looking for a place to have dinner. My passage was interrupted by a very large crowd, and it soon became clear it was a demonstration. The demonstration was for Daphne.
Daphne was Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist. She was an extraordinarily competent reporter with little fear and apparently great sources, and she worked tirelessly to weed out corruption in Malta. She also collected enemies by the bushel basket, so much so that many aspects of her daily life had to change for her protection. She was constantly sued, hassled, criticized, followed, intimidated – and even arrested.
On Oct. 16, 2017, Daphne was driving away from her home. A huge explosion followed. One of her sons was among the first on the scene to discover parts of his mother's body spread about a field.