The two pathologists informed the court that they had not been paid for several months and asked to be exempt from testifying for the time being. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera immediately granted their request and summoned the permanent secretary in the Finance Ministry and the Court Finance Director to ensure that the experts are paid in full before the next sitting.

In addition, the next witness to testify, Patrick Calleja, said that certain forensic tests had not yet been carried out because the scanning electron microscope at the Forensic Laboratory was not in good working order. He said he had issued orders to make sure that the microscope was sent to England for repairs.

Another witness – Charles Muscat, who operates the microscope – said that the item in question was 10 years old and had malfunctioned or not functioned at all on 26 occasions in the last eight months.

He said that because of the damaged equipment, the backlog of work at the Forensic Lab. was increasing drastically, and even if another microscope, which costs about Lm180,000, was bought, there would still be a backlog.

Dr Scerri Herrera ordered that a copy of Mr Muscat’s testimony be sent to the Police Commissioner, the Justice Minister and the IT and Investment Minister.