Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545856
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 JULY 2026 NEWS communicated through burner Melvin Theuma when in prison bile number through lawyer David Gatt. Muscat confirmed that ac- count, telling the court Degior- gio repeatedly sent the journal- ist text messages claiming he had information for her. The journalist eventually replied telling Degiorgio she did not deal over the phone and invit- ing him to "come and face me." Muscat testified he was stand- ing beside Degiorgio when the message was received and said the phone would then be hid- den beneath the canopy at the Marsa potato shed before they later checked whether she had replied. Muscat also reiterated that the original plan was to kill Caruana Galizia with a ma- chine gun, with Jamie Vella ex- pected to carry out the shoot- ing. He testified that the group visited her workplace in Msida after receiving information from David Gatt and later trav- elled to Gżira after obtaining further information about her whereabouts from either Gatt or Cardona. Throughout the afternoon, the defence repeatedly chal- lenged Muscat over his allega- tions involving Chris Cardona. Muscat maintained he drove Alfred Degiorgio to meet Car- dona four or five times before the assassination, dropping him near Castille and watch- ing him walk towards the min- istry. However, he repeatedly accepted that he never per- sonally witnessed conversa- tions between Cardona and the Degiorgio brothers and that everything he knew had been relayed to him by George or Alfred Degiorgio. The defence also focused heavily on the source of infor- mation allegedly reaching the group after the assassination. Muscat maintained Alfred Degiorgio warned him police would arrest them on 4 De- cember 2017 but repeatedly in- sisted he could not remember who originally supplied that information to Alfred. He con- firmed Toni l-Iblaħ visited the Marsa potato shed and later drove Alfred Degiorgio home, but repeatedly answered that he could not remember wheth- er messages allegedly passed on from Cardona related to the police investigation or the im- pending arrests. Cross-examination conclud- ed with repeated question- ing about references to Keith Schembri in Muscat's previous testimony. Muscat confirmed lawyer David Gatt frequent- ly made a "number one" hand gesture, which George De- giorgio had told him referred to Schembri, whom they de- scribed as "Malta's number one". However, when confronted with several previous state- ments involving Schembri, Muscat repeatedly answered: "I don't remember." At one stage, De Marco remarked that Mus- cat appeared to forget details whenever Schembri's name arose, prompting the witness to reply: "I only remember what I remember". The trial continues today. Fenech is accused of master- minding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, financing it to the tune of €150,000 and urg- ing the hitmen to act fast. He is pleading not guilty to the charges. The prosecution is being led by AG lawyers Godwin Ci- ni, Anthony Vella and Danika Vella together with Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra. Yorgen Fenech is being rep- resented by lawyers Charles Mercieca, Giannella de Marco and Gianluca Caruana Curran. Lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing for the Caruana Galizia family. George Degiorgio (left) looks at the camera during a site visit in the 2025 trial over the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) Pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma attending a court sitting during the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech (Photo: James Bianchi/ MaltaToday)