VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Judge Edwina Grima has reminded jurors in the Yorgen Fenech murder trial that any reasonable doubt must be resolved in favour of the accused, as she continued her detailed review of the evidence.
Fenech is accused of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb explosion in Bidnija in October 2017. A conviction could result in a life sentence.
Addressing the jury, Judge Grima began summarising testimony heard over 53 days of proceedings. She stressed that her account should not replace the jurors’ own recollection or consideration of the evidence.
“What I am telling you is not gospel,” the judge said, reminding jurors that they are the “sovereign judges” of the facts.
She began with Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud, one of the investigation’s lead officers, who testified about the immediate response to the assassination and the subsequent forensic investigation.
The court heard that international forensic experts were brought in to assist Maltese investigators and that surveillance points overlooking Caruana Galizia’s Bidnija home were identified.
Judge Grima also recalled testimony from Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew, who described his mother briefly returning home after forgetting her chequebook before leaving again, moments before her car exploded.
Scene-of-Crime officers divided the area into 28 sectors to document and collect evidence. A post-blast examination concluded that the explosive device had been placed beneath the driver’s seat.
The judge also reviewed evidence concerning a suspicious white vehicle seen in Bidnija, the forensic examination of Caruana Galizia’s mobile phone and analysis of mobile numbers linked to the investigation.
She recounted the arrests of the three men convicted in connection with the killing and evidence concerning intercepted communications, the bomb and the alleged involvement of middleman Melvin Theuma.
Theuma secretly recorded conversations with Fenech and later sought a presidential pardon in exchange for testimony. According to evidence summarised by the judge, Theuma claimed Fenech had asked him to find George Degiorgio and said he wanted Caruana Galizia killed.
Judge Grima also revisited evidence concerning Theuma’s contacts with former government chief of staff Keith Schembri and the events leading to Fenech’s arrest at Portomaso as he attempted to leave Malta by yacht.
Police searches of Fenech’s properties and recordings supplied by Theuma also formed part of the evidence being reviewed.
Earlier in the afternoon, Caruana Galizia’s father, Michael Vella, attended a sitting for the first time during the trial.
Judge Grima’s address is the final stage before jurors retire to deliberate on the verdict.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
