The trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech over the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia resumes on Tuesday before Judge Edwina Grima, with the defence set to continue its cross-examination of Assistant Police Commissioner Keith Arnaud.

Arnaud’s cross-examination by the defence started on Monday afternoon and will proceed throughout Tuesday as the trial enters its second week.

On Friday and Saturday, Arnaud gave a detailed account of how the investigation evolved following the arrest of Melvin Theuma in November 2019. The jury heard how secret recordings made by Theuma, conversations retrieved from the encrypted messaging app Signal, and data extracted from Yorgen Fenech's mobile phone became central pieces of evidence that significantly advanced the murder investigation.

On Monday, Arnaud presented further evidence recovered from Fenech's mobile phone, recordings made by state witness Melvin Theuma and messages exchanged with former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and others in the days leading up to Fenech's arrest.

Fenech, 44, has pleaded not guilty to two principal charges: complicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia and criminal association to commit the murder.

Arnaud, the lead investigator in the case, testified for a whole day on Friday, giving an account of the police investions that led to arrests after the journalist was killed in a car bomb on 16 October, 2017.

Five men have already been convicted in connection with Caruana Galizia's assassination. Vince Muscat admitted his role in the murder in 2021 and was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Alfred and George Degiorgio each received 40-year prison sentences after pleading guilty in 2022, while Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2025 for supplying the bomb used in the attack.

The prosecution is being led by Attorney General lawyers Godwin Cini, Anthony Vella and Danika Vella, assisted by Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra. Fenech is represented by lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianella Demarco and Gianluca Caruana Curran, while lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing parte civile on behalf of the Caruana Galizia family.

Judge Edwina Grima is presiding over the case.

18:20 The judge brings today's sitting to a close, instructing jurors to withdraw. Proceedings are adjourned until tomorrow morning. Thank you for following, and we will have a round-up of today's events shortly.

18:10 A brief tense exchange precedes the next line of questioning. "I knew you'd ask me this question," Arnaud remarks, prompting De Marco to respond: "You must be telepathic."

The defence then turns to Melvin Theuma's fears during the investigation. De Marco suggests that Theuma had been afraid of someone. Arnaud replies that Theuma was "certainly afraid" of Yorgen Fenech. De Marco then asks whether Theuma was also afraid of Keith Schembri. "Yes, he was afraid of Keith Schembri," Arnaud replies. Asked whether Theuma feared Schembri would kill him, Arnaud says Theuma had told him he was afraid Schembri would either kill him or have him imprisoned.

De Marco also notes that Theuma continued exchanging messages with Fenech until the very end, a point Arnaud agrees with. The defence then asks whether Theuma had mentioned the letter later found in Fenech's possession. Arnaud replies that he had not, saying Theuma had forgotten about it. However, he adds that Theuma had left behind a photograph of himself with Keith Schembri in a box. When De Marco suggests the photograph was intended to show who had been protecting Theuma, the judge intervenes, telling her that that was a leading question.

17:46 Arnaud confirms that Adrian Vella had collected the letter from Keith Schembri to give to Yorgen Fenech. He says he cannot be 100% sure what the letter contained. Answering a question by the defence, Arnaud says Vella was interrogated over the letter and was aware the investigation concerned Caruana Galizia's murder.

17:39 Proceedings resume with De Marco continuing her cross-examination of Arnaud. De Marco asks whether investigators found a safe during the search of Keith Schembri's home. Arnaud replies that he does not recall finding one. She then asks what police seized from Schembri's office at Castille. Arnaud says investigators definitely recovered some documents but does not believe any electronic devices were found there. De Marco then turns to the letter delivered to Yorgen Fenech by doctor Adrian Vella, asking whether it had been examined for fingerprints. Arnaud confirms that it had.

De Marco notes that around 70 fingerprints were found on the document. Arnaud replies that none of them belonged to Keith Schembri. (The letter, which was handed to Fenech a few days after his initial arrest, outlined a version of events that could be used to implicate Chris Cardona and Melvin Theuma in the murder. Adrian Vella, the Fenech family's doctor, had previously testified that Schembri gave him the six-page document to pass on to Fenech during a medical visit, although he said he had not read its contents.

17:25 The past half hour of proceedings has focused on photographs taken during the police search of Keith Schembri's residence. Following legal arguments over which material could be shown in court, the jury was ultimately presented with printed photographs of electronic devices seized during the search.

Prosecuting lawyers Anthony Vella and Godwin Cini object, arguing that the line of questioning is diverting the jury's attention from the issues at hand. They contend that the defence is selectively referring to facts that support its case.

The defence rejects that criticism, maintaining that it is relying on evidence established in other proceedings linked to the case. Defence lawyers tell the court that Schembri's phone was last active at 5.04am before it could no longer be traced.

16:35 Arnaud tells the court that investigators were unable to recover both Schembri's mobile phone or laptop during searches carried out as part of the investigation.

He is answering questions about a search of Schembri's residence, which was also attended by Inspector Kurt Zahra. Arnaud says police seized all electronic devices they found at the property, including a tablet belonging to Schembri's wife and mobile phones used by his children.

However, he confirms that Schembri's own phone and laptop were never located.

Arnaud also tells the court that investigators searched Schembri's office at Castille after it had been sealed. He says he cannot recall exactly what was seized during that search but notes that the entire operation was filmed. Jurors are shown photos taken by the police of those searches.

16:27 De Marco continued by saying that Theuma went to Castille, where Schembri met him at the top of the steps before "giving him a tour of Castille." Arnaud confirms that Theuma told him he was given a tour of Castille by Schembri. At this point: De Marco asks: "Have you ever been given a tour of Castille?" Judge Edwina Grima was not amused by this line of questioning, and told the defence to limit their comments and focus on questioning the witness.

16:10 De Marco asks whether Melvin Theuma frequently mentioned Keith Schembri in both his recordings and intercepted conversations.

Arnaud replies that Theuma referred to Schembri many times in his recordings, but not in the intercepts. De Marco then states that Schembri had given Theuma a "phantom job."

Arnaud says Schembri had referred Theuma to a ministry and instructed him to speak to a particular person about employment.

Asked whether Theuma received cheques in connection with that job, Arnaud confirms that he did, adding that the last payment was made around a month before Caruana Galizia's assassination.

15:56 The defence moves on to questions about Kenneth Camilleri, a former security official within the Office of the Prime Minister. Arnaud confirms that Camilleri was questioned by investigators but says his mobile phone was never seized.

De Marco tells the court that Camilleri had been sent by Keith Schembri to meet Johann Cremona before speaking to Melvin Theuma. She adds that, according to Theuma's testimony, Camilleri had told him that the Degiorgio brothers would each receive €1 million.

Arnaud confirms that account, replying: "Correct, agreed."

He also agrees that Camilleri had been instructed to calm an anxious Theuma, although Camilleri himself did not know why Theuma needed reassuring.

He said that Camilleri did not know Yorgen Fenech and police never established why he had first been sent to Johann Cremona before going to meet Theuma.

15:47 Responding to a question from the defence, Arnaud confirms that he and other police officers carried out a search at Schembri's residence.

De Marco suggests the search took place on November 7, 2017, just weeks after Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination. Arnaud rejects that timeline, saying the search "definitely" did not take place on that date.

He tells the court that, at that stage of the investigation, officers were reviewing Caruana Galizia's writings while awaiting investigative results, adding that they were examining the individuals she had been reporting on.

15:35 De Marco refers to Arnaud's earlier testimony, saying he had stated that Keith Schembri was not considered a suspect during the investigation.

Arnaud replies that Schembri only became a suspect after Melvin Theuma's arrest in November 2019. He says there was no investigation specifically targeting Schembri before then, although investigators had preserved data from his mobile phone (not Schembri's original phone, which had gone missing hours before his initial arrest.)

Turning to the investigation itself, Arnaud tells the court he took over the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder inquiry in 2018 after a court ordered the removal of the previous lead investigator, Silvio Valletta, from the case.

15:30 Defence lawyer Giannella De Marco resumes her cross-examination of lead investigator Arnaud.

Arnaud confirms that Edgar Brincat, known as il-Ġojja, met then police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar before Melvin Theuma was granted a presidential pardon. He says Brincat was under surveillance by the Malta Security Services at the time.

Arnaud tells the court the meeting between the two took place in secret within weeks of Theuma's arrest. According to Arnaud, Cutajar later said he had met Brincat in an attempt to obtain information about recordings held by Theuma.

Jurors are also shown screenshots of news reports that revealed the meetings between Brincat and the then police commissioner.

15:10 Court is back in session as the judge and jury enter the courtroom.

13:10 Asked whether Lawrence Cutajar was still serving as police commissioner when Melvin Theuma was granted a presidential pardon, Arnaud confirmed that he was. He added, however, that Cutajar had already left the police force by the time the recordings emerged.

The court adjourned proceedings until 3pm.

13:00: Arnaud confirmed that Theuma had tried to kill himself while he was in witness protection.

De Marco in turn linked that to a court testimony in which Theuma was asked if he had paid cash in exchange for a presidential pardon - she suggested that there was a recording which implied that Cremona had paid the police commissioner for Theuma's pardon.

Arnaud said that he has no knowledge on that, and that he also has no knowledge on whether Theuma and Cremona were in "continuous" contact.

12:50: Continuing the cross-examination, Arnaud said that Theuma started recording Fenech after the murder happened.

De Marco told Arnaud that Theuma has also recorded Johann Cremona – one of Fenech’s business partners – but had thrown away the mobile phone with those recordings.

To that, Arnaud recalled that Theuma had told him that it was his impression that there were more recordings that the ones that had been played back to him.  Theuma confirmed to police that he had thrown away a phone, but also told them that all the recordings he had were in the box that police had seized.

12:30: Court is back in session, and it resumes with arguments between the prosecution and defence on how assets allegedly returned to Theuma’s partner had been described to jurors.

End result: the jurors were instructed to disregard testimony on that topic as they are separate proceedings.

12:00: Arnaud confirmed that the mother of Theuma's partner had also shown up with €131,000 when Theuma was in police custody.  She was subsequently arrested, but De Marco suggested that the family got that money back.

Arnaud, however, said that he was not involved in that arrest or case, but that he knows that Theuma's partner and her mother were both charged in connection with the money.

Arnaud said that Theuma had a "considerable" amount of assets and property, and De Marco in reply suggested that Theuma's property portfolio was worth around €4 million.  The judge however stopped that line of questioning.

The Attorney General's lawyers meanwhile said that there was no plea deal to return money to Theuma's partner or her family.

The judge calls a 30-minute recess, meaning that proceedings take a pause for now.

11:45: Questioning turned to the presidential pardon granted to Melvin Theuma.

Arnaud confirmed that the pardon covered multiple offences, including money laundering. This pardon, De Marco said, gave Theuma a "clean slate" for anything he had done before 2019.

Asked how much money Theuma was found with, Arnaud said that the man had between €400,000 and €450,000 in cash and property when he was arrested.

11:35: The defence suggested that the Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar did not want Melvin Theuma to be arrested, but Arnaud denied this.

On the contrary, he said, the Commissioner had pushed them to go ahead with the arrest, but Arnaud told him that they still had not found Theuma’s recordings and hence wanted to hold off – and the Commissioner agreed.

He continued that there was no fixed date planned for the arrests.  The defence suggested that Europol disagreed with this approach, but Arnaud said that this wasn’t true and that Europol never got involved in such a manner as it wasn’t their jurisdiction.  “When we explained our plan to them, they said it was a ‘very solid’ one,” Arnaud said.

Arnaud also confirmed that Theuma had the Police Commissioner’s phone number, but Theuma had insisted that he never called him.  He said that he had gotten the number from Edgar Brincat – known as il-Ġojja – who was close to Cutajar – at the Marsa horse racing track and told to use it in case there was ever any fighting at the track.

Arnaud told the court that police did have information on Theuma’s involved in an illegal gambling ring, but said that this wasn’t the point of focus as talks had already shifted towards getting a presidential pardon for him in relation to the murder.

11:10: De Marco asked Arnaud about a suggestion that Gatt had spoken to Cardona to ask him to get the police to stop its patrols in Bidnija.  Arnaud snapped back that the suggestion is “totally absurd.”

De Marco said that Muscat had testified that no police car passed through the area for six weeks, but Arnaud replied that Muscat’s testimony was misleading as phone data showed that he was only in the area once during that period, and therefore could not have known if the police patrolled there in that period.

Questioning turns to the bombs involved: Arnaud confirms that three bombs had been acquired by the hitmen. One was used in 2017 in a car bombing on Romeo Bone, another was used to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia, and the third was used in May 2018 to target Kevin Ellul.

The SIM cards used to trigger those bombs were purchased together in November 2016, he testified.

10:45: Under cross-examination, Arnaud confirms that Vince Muscat said that he never saw Melvin Theuma hand money over to Alfred Degiorgio.

He also said that George Degiorgio gave very little information in regards to Cardona and David Gatt allegedly being a part of any plot to kill Caruana Galizia.

De Marco then referred to an allegation that Alfred Degiorgio was given a Freeport pass so he could import a shipping container of contraband cigarettes - but Arnaud said that no evidence of this happening or anyone deriving any sort of benefit from inside the Freeport was found.

10:25: De Marco continued by asking Arnaud to confirm whether Vince Muscat had mentioned Chris Cardona, George Degiorgio, David Gatt and Jamie Vella within the context of a plan to murder Caruana Galizia.

Arnaud confirmed that this was what Muscat had testified, but added that Muscat had then said that the plot was cancelled and that there is no evidence to show that it was ever re-activated.  He added that Melvin Theuma – the pardoned middleman in this case – never featured in that plot.

Arnaud said that as far as he recalls, Muscat had driven Alfred Degiorgio to meet with Cardona after the murder had happened with the aim of getting information about how the investigations were ongoing.

De Marco asked whether there were meetings before the murder, to which Arnaud replied that he does not remember with certainty, but his impression was that they were after the murder, not before.

10:05: Cross-examination continues, with questions focused on the lawyer and former police officer David Gatt, and his alleged ties to the Degiorgio brothers.

Arnaud said that Gatt did visit the Marsa potato shed where the hitmen were arrested, and that Gatt had also visited the brothers in prison, telling officials that he was representing them as their lawyer. Gatt, however, never appeared in court representing the brothers, Arnaud pointed out, adding that at that point one of the brothers had resorted to using a legal aid lawyer.

De Marco referred to testimony from one of the hitmen – Vince Muscat – who had said that Gatt used to mention Caruana Galizia and make hand gestures which implied an explosion both before and after her murder.

She also referred to a person who Muscat had referred to as “Number One” – whom he later identified as Keith Schembri.

Arnaud confirmed that Muscat had mentioned Schembri during his testimony before the public inquiry in 2021, and added that George Degiorgio had also testified that Gatt had once told him that he was speaking to Schembri over the phone.

09:55: The defence’s next line of questioning centres on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s laptop, and what access police had to it.

Arnaud confirmed that investigators wanted to examine the laptop to try and understand what stories the journalist was working on before she was killed, with this possibly leading police to the motive behind her assassination.

He continued that the Caruana Galizia family provided the police with information about the stories that the journalist had been investigated.

When asked whether the police ever had direct access to the laptop, Arnaud replied that the information had been given by Matthew Caruana Galizia – one of Daphne’s sons. “I never met a person whose mother was killed and who tried to take me for a ride,” he said.

09:40: One of Fenech’s defence lawyers Gianella de Marco starts the cross-examination by asking Arnaud about Anthony Sammut – who is perhaps better known as Toni l-Iblaħ.

Sammut worked in the ministry of Chris Cardona, and he was mentioned in a letter which was passed onto Fenech after he was arrested – a letter which tried to pin Caruana Galizia’s murder on Cardona.

Arnaud is shown a court decree which lists Sammut as a person of interest in the murder investigation, and is asked whether it had been mentioned that Sammut used to hang out at the Marsa potato shed and whether he knew the hitmen.

Arnaud replied that he first heard of Sammut in that letter, and that he “never featured” in the investigation.  Arnaud said that he learnt of Sammut’s ties to the hitmen in 2019.

The defence also asked about another person who was close to Cardona: Anthony Chetcuti, known as il-Biglee.

Arnaud replied that evidence never led the police to these two men, and that investigators only preserved their phone evidence.

09:16: Judge Edwina Grima has entered the courtroom, as have the jurors.  Proceedings for the day may now get underway.

09:00: Good morning, and welcome to this live blog for what is the sixth day of the trial of Yorgen Fenech.  

Today's sitting is scheduled to get underway shortly, and will run till around 6pm with a break for lunch in the afternoon.