Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1284320
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 She also noted that while Fenech's fam- ily and business interests tied him down to Malta, the fear of him absconding was not misplaced. She said that during the compilation of evidence the court heard of plans for Fenech to escape from the country and he was arrested while leaving Malta on his yacht. The magistrate refused bail. This is the fourth refusal of bail. Rules against constitutional reference She then ruled against Fenech's request for a reference to the constitutional court over what he claims was a breach of his human rights when he was denied access to the contents of his mobile phone that was confiscated by the police. The magistrate ruled that the mobile phone and its contents was still be in- vestigated and could not be returned to Fenech. She refuted the claim that the ac- cused's human rights were breached since the prosecution had not yet terminated the evidence stage and the data from the phone would eventually be presented in the acts of the case. Ruling on concerns about references to unconnected third parties in recordings and data extracted from equipment, the court appointed expert Alvin Cardona to meet the parties and go through the data together, to decide what is relevant to the case and disregard the rest. Montebello ruled that the accused should be present when this takes place, as will lawyers representing the Caruana Galizia family. Fenech was arrested in November 2019 and has been in custody ever since. On Monday, Fenech's lawyer Charles Mercieca argued that the fear of tamper- ing with evidence was not real given the time his client has been kept in detention. "This phantom fear of public disorder does not result from anywhere, not least the law," Mercieca said in his submissions on bail. He added that Fenech was not to blame for the bad reputation Malta earned itself abroad. "Malta was put on the map in a bad way not because of Yorgen Fenech but be- cause of the lack of rule of law. This assassi- nation plot was hatched in Castille and the police and the government did nothing to stop it. Where is the public disorder?" The prosecution is led by inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra, aided by the Attorney General. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia are appearing parte civ- ile for the Caruana Galizia family. The defence lawyers are Mercieca, Gi- anluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri. The next sitting is on 6 October at 10am. 'A real fear of tampering with evidence and absconding,' magistrate rules NICOLE MEILAK AN 89-year-old man is Malta's 13th victim of COVID-19, the Health Ministry said yesterday. The man was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital on 23 August for var- ious health conditions and tested negative for COVID-19 on admis- sion. The ministry said that the man was still given medical care in iso- lation after he had come in contact with a person who tested positive within the community. He was discharged from Mater Dei early on Monday, showing no signs of COVID-19 symptoms, the ministry said. However, his health deteriorated rapidly and was readmitted into the emergency section, where he tested positive for COVID-19. The man died yesterday after- noon. The Health Ministry sent its con- dolences to the family, and urged people to abide by safety regula- tions published by the health au- thorities. 26 new cases Earlier yesterday, the ministry said that 26 new cases of COV- ID-19 had been registered over- night. Four were family members of previously known cases, one was a work colleague of a positive case, two contacts from social gather- ings and 14 were sporadic. 53 more people have since recov- ered from the virus. The number of active cases now stands at 444. Since the start of the pandemic in March, 1,453 people have re- covered from the virus and 12 pa- tients have died. In the 24 hours betweeb Mon- day and Tuesday, 1,916 swab tests were carried out. With a grand total of 192,509 tests having been carried out so far on the island. COVID-19 claims 13th victim The 89-year-old man was discharged from hospital with no signs of COVID-19 on Monday Yorgen Fenech