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16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS Christmas specials • Crime THE rapid developments in the investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the publication of the Egrant report towards the end of the year overshadowed much of the coverage from court, but there were many other notable cases that deserve a mention. Murder Daphne Caruana Galizia The constellation of cases sparked by the murder of in- vestigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as de- velopments in the murder in- vestigation took centre stage for most of the latter part of the year. A slew of Constitutional cases filed on behalf of the three al- leged hitmen bogged down the compilation of evidence against them, which will now continue in January. Of course the biggest case of the year, if not the decade, is that in which Tumas Group magnate Yorgen Fenech stands accused of masterminding Caruana Galizia's murder. He has implicated Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's (now) former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, who is also being investigated for homicide and obstruction of justice. Other pages of this edition will be dedicated to that story, but it's obviously one to look out for in the new year. Ghaxaq double homicide A shocking double murder of a mother and daughter in Ghaxaq rocked the country in March. Joseph Bonnici, 38, stands charged with having killed the two women inside the family home, allegedly having meticu- lously planned the murder, go- ing so far as to build the firearm used himself, as well as the lo- gistics of disposing of the bod- ies in a nearby field. He had then reported the victims to the police as missing. His case con- tinues in February. Migrant murdered in drive- by shooting allegedly by off- duty soldiers Dismissed AFM soldiers Lorin Scicluna and Francesco Fenech, aged 21 and 22 respec- tively, were accused of having shot Lassana Cisse Souley- mane, 42, from the Ivory Coast dead in cold blood, in a racially- motivated drive-by shooting in Ħal Far in April. They are also charged with the attempted murder of two migrants from Gambia whom they injured in a drive-by shooting on the same night. Cisse had been walking home after watching a football game when he was shot dead. Prose- cutors say the accused men had murdered Cisse because of his skin colour. After spending months in cus- tody, the accused were granted bail in December against a de- posit of €30,000, a personal guarantee of €20,000 and or- dered to observe a curfew. Hugo Chetcuti The compilation of evidence against Bojan Cmelik, the man accused with the murder of businessman Hugo Chetcuti, ended earlier this year, leaving it to the Attorney General to is- sue a bill of indictment. Chetcuti, a well-known busi- nessman, died in hospital after he was stabbed by Cmelik, a Serbian national, in Paceville in July 2018. No motive has been established for the murder. Lisa Maria Zahra murder trial A teacher accused of the mur- der of a student who became his lover was jailed for 20 years and six months in June after he pleaded guilty to the wilful homicide of Lisa Maria Zahra. Zahra's body was found under Dingli cliffs in March 2014. She was 15 years old. Erin Tanti's indictment states that he had been unable to ac- cept the fact that he had been caught sleeping with a pupil and would end up jobless and branded a paedophile, so he had come up with a desperate plan to kill the girl and make it look like a suicide. The courts bore the brunt of the action in the tumultuous year that was 2019. Here's a selection of the most memorable court stories we've seen this year MATTHEW AGIUS So much crime, so little time Drug kingpin Jordan Azzopardi (right), Bojan Cmelik (bottom left) and Erin Tanti (bottom right) Yorgen Fenech was accused of masterminding the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination