Owen Bonnici has admitted to keeping all the pictures of Daphne Caruana Galizia removed from the Great Siege memorial in Valletta in a shrine in his garage.
Since Caruana Galizia was murdered two years ago, activists have been placing candles, flowers and pictures of the slain journalist at the base of the memorial opposite the law courts, only for them to be cleared overnight by government workers employed by Bonnici’s ministry.
“Everyone assumes the photos and everything else get chucked in a skip, but that’s not the case, Bonnici said.
“Everything gets delivered to me, and I then I stick all the pictures on the walls of a basement garage I rent in Zejtun. Those Occupy Justice people are really tenacious. It’s gotten to a point where I have several layers of Daphne, and I’ve even covered the floor and ceiling.
Asked why he does this, given that Caruana Galizia was highly critical of him, the justice and culture minister admitted he was secretly a fan of hers.
“I actually liked it when she used called me Noddy, because Noddy was my favourite show as a kid. Sometimes I come down here wearing a Noddy costume and jingly my little bell as hundreds of Daphnes stare at me unblinkingly from every direction.”
When asked about Labour leadership hopeful Chris Fearne’s hint during an interview that he would no longer allow the memorial to be cleared, Bonnici replied:
“No! I must continue receiving the photos so I can complete my ultimate creation: a papier-mâché effigy of Daphne made entirely of Daphnes. I won’t let that bald, beak-nosed bastard stop me!”
