The trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech over the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia resumes on Wednesday for its seventh day, with lead investigator Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud set to face a third day of cross-examination before Judge Edwina Grima.

The defence began questioning Arnaud on Monday afternoon spending last Friday and Saturday giving evidence for the prosecution.

His cross-examination has since focused on the police investigation into the murder, with defence lawyer Gianella De Marco probing the handling of evidence, the circumstances surrounding Melvin Theuma's presidential pardon and whether investigators sufficiently explored alternative lines of inquiry.

During Tuesday's sitting, jurors heard that police never recovered former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri's mobile phone or laptop despite searches at his home and office.

The defence also revisited claims involving former minister Chris Cardona and questioned the lead investigator about alternative theories surrounding the murder, all of which Arnaud maintained were unsupported by the evidence gathered during the investigation.

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, began testifying last week, outlining the police investigation that followed Caruana Galizia's assassination in a car bomb attack on 16 October 2017.

Over the course of his testimony, he detailed how secret recordings made by state witness Melvin Theuma, messages recovered from the encrypted messaging app Signal and data extracted from Fenech's mobile phone became central to the prosecution's case.

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 De Marco 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.

10:12 The defence concludes its cross-examination of Keith Arnaud.

Before the prosecution begins its questioning, the judge informs the court that members of the jury have indicated they would like to ask the witness a number of questions. Jurors have also requested copies of some of the documents exhibited during the proceedings.

Once Arnaud's testimony is complete, the jury foreman will put the jurors' questions to the witness for clarification.

10:00 Arnaud tells the court that he used to communicate with Keith Schembri through WhatsApp, but says he no longer has Schembri's number.

De Marco asks whether he ever felt any sense of deference towards Schembri.

Arnaud replies that he dealt with Schembri in his capacity as the prime minister's chief of staff.

De Marco then reads out a WhatsApp exchange between Schembri and Johann Cremona, a business associate of Yorgen Fenech.

In the messages, Cremona tells Schembri that Arnaud wanted them to testify.

Schembri replies that they would not allow it, while also describing Arnaud as someone who had "always been fair" with him.

Asked about the exchange, Arnaud says he has always treated people fairly.

"There are people serving life in prison who I've gone to visit because they wanted to speak to me. That's the way to do things," he tells the court.

09:45 Arnaud confirms that Keith Schembri never told investigators he knew Melvin Theuma, even when discussions were taking place about granting Theuma a presidential pardon. Arnaud adds that Theuma also never told police that he knew Schembri personally.

He further confirms that Schembri denied sending anyone to reassure Theuma after his arrest.

De Marco then asks Arnaud to confirm whether Theuma had requested to speak to then Opposition leader Simon Busuttil following his arrest.

Arnaud replies that he had never mentioned any names, saying only that Theuma had asked for a Nationalist lawyer. "He asked for others. I can name them if you like," Arnaud tells the court.

De Marco moves on to a different line of questioning.

09:38 Responding to further questions from the defence, Arnaud tells the court that requests to extract data from the mobile phones of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Yorgen Fenech, Keith Schembri and others were made by the inquiring magistrate, not by the police.

The questioning then turns to Caruana Galizia's laptop. Arnaud says investigators obtained the information they required from the journalist's son.

"Whatever information we needed from the laptop, we got from the victim's son," Arnaud tells the court.

"I needed information about the stories Caruana Galizia was working on, and he gave me everything."

09:35 Arnaud confirms that police questioned former minister Chris Cardona and two of his associates, known as Toni l-Biglee and Toni l-Iblaħ.

However, he says investigators did not seize their mobile phones. De Marco refers to testimony by two of the men convicted over the murder, who had claimed that Cardona paid €50,000 in connection with an alleged 2015 plot to assassinate Daphne Caruana Galizia.

She asks whether they were questioned again after making those claims. Arnaud replies that they were not, saying the testimony was "riddled with inaccuracies."

"We investigated every lead, the evidence doesn't indicate that anyone other than those charged was involved in this case," he tells the court.

De Marco then refers to evidence given by George Degiorgio, who claimed that fellow hitman Vince Muscat, Chris Cardona and former police officer-turned-lawyer David Gatt were involved in both the alleged 2015 plot and the 2017 assassination.

Arnaud rejects that version of events, saying George Degiorgio himself had confirmed that the €150,000 payment received by the hitmen was linked to the 2017 murder.

09:23 Defence lawyer Giannella De Marco opens the day's cross-examination by asking Arnaud whether police ever seized the mobile phone of former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. Arnaud replies that they did not. He tells the court that, following suspicions of information leaks, he and Inspector Kurt Zahra requested an investigation but did not carry it out themselves.

"There was an inquiry into the leaks and we sought an investigation. We did not investigate it ourselves, for the sake of transparency. Inspector Kurt Zahra and I reported the suspected leaks to our superiors, but we did not conduct the investigation ourselves," Arnaud says.

Cutajar, who served as police commissioner between 2016 and 2020, has previously acknowledged meeting a man linked to murder middleman Melvin Theuma before Theuma's arrest, saying the meeting was intended to obtain information about the case.

09:16 The judge and jurors have taken their seats in the courtroom, with Assistant Police Commissioner Keith Arnaud already on the witness stand. Proceedings are now underway.

09:00 Good morning and welcome to this live blog for the seventh day of the trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech. Today's sitting is scheduled to start shortly, and will run till around 6pm with a break for lunch in the afternoon.