The trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech over the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia resumes on Thursday for its eighth day.

Wednesday saw the end of four days of testimony from lead investigator Keith Arnaud

The defence began questioning Arnaud on Monday afternoon, after the Assistant Police Commissioner spent last Friday and Saturday giving evidence for the prosecution.  Jurors also put their questions to Arnaud on Wednesday.

During Wednesday’s sitting, jurors heard that Yorgen Fenech seemed to know that the journalist’s laptop had ended up in Germany.

Meanwhile, forensic experts and two police officers who were at the scene of the murder also testified before the jury.

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.

Warning: The following testimony contains graphic descriptions.

18:35 Today's court sitting has come to an end, bringing our live coverage to a close. Thank you for following the proceedings with us. A summary of the day's key testimony will be available on our website shortly. We'll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

18:32 The witness exhibits several parts of the vehicle recovered from the scene, including a section of the dashboard and a headrest salvaged during the forensic examination.

A scene-of-crime officer responsible for videography then takes the witness stand. He tells jurors that his role was to film every sector of the crime scene, with the footage later saved onto CDs and documented in line with the inspectors' instructions and the work carried out on each day.

The next witness explains the annexes, documents and receipts accompanying the evidence submission forms, outlining which police officer collected each item of evidence and the reference code assigned to it.

18:19 Proceedings have resumed, with jurors being shown further photographs of the interior of the vehicle and the damage caused by the explosion.

The court is also shown images documenting the removal of the car from the scene.

One photograph shows the vehicle being lifted by a crane, revealing a hole in its underside. Another depicts the scorched vegetation beneath the car, where Caruana Galizia's mobile phone was recovered near the rear wheel.

17:40 Proceedings then move on to the procedural aspect of the evidence, with the witness reading out the reference numbers under which each photograph and item of evidence was catalogued, sealed and documented.

The court has adjourned for a short break. Our live coverage will resume once proceedings are back underway.

17:35 The court is shown additional photographs of the body after it had been placed in a body bag, followed by images taken during the autopsy showing the head, upper body and lower body.

The images are very graphic in nature. Despite this, the jurors show no visible reaction as they are displayed in court.

17:12 Jurors are being shown extremely graphic autopsy photographs documenting the post-mortem of Caruana Galizia's badly burnt head and torso.

The courtroom has fallen silent as the images are displayed one after another.

16:48 Jurors are shown a highly graphic photograph of Caruana Galizia's body before being removed from the vehicle and placed on a white sheet, alongside the part of the foot that was recovered outside the car.

Another photograph shown in court depicts the body after it had been placed in a body bag.

16:15 Manicolo is giving jurors details about the damage to Daphne Caruana Galizia's body.

He notes extensive burning on one side of the body. He says the head and upper body were found between the passenger seat and the door on that side, while the lower body was between the driver's seat and the steering wheel.

He explains that although the right leg was inside the car, part of the foot was missing.

15:53 The court is also presented with a report examining stones from the rubble wall lying on the ground.

SOCO Inspector Kevin Manicolo is the next witness to testify. He confirms the account previously given by officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit regarding the events at the scene.

Manicolo describes the condition of the site when investigators arrived and explains how the team divided its responsibilities, with different officers assigned tasks such as photography, documentation and other aspects.

15:44 Vella says investigators also recovered pieces of human faeces and other biological material covered in soil and debris.

All such items were collected as evidence.

Jurors are shown a photograph of a piece of clothing caught on a barbed wire fence at the scene.

15:15 Jurors are next shown aerial photographs of the scene, including images revealing a crater in the road caused by the explosion.

Vella tells the court that investigators established the victim's car had been parked near her home just minutes before the blast. As a result, police designated the victim's residence as a secondary crime scene and preserved it for further examination.

He also explains that investigators later identified an area overlooking Bidnija and the explosion site, where they recovered a cigarette and cigarette butts. That location was also cordoned off and treated as a secondary crime scene.

Jurors are then shown photographs of the burnt vehicle taken from various angles.

15:11 Vella tells the court that investigators took extensive precautions to preserve the integrity of the crime scene.

He says officers only entered the area after it had been declared safe from any explosive hazards, wearing protective clothing as they began documenting and examining the site.

Jurors are shown a series of crime scene photographs, including images depicting the remains of a human body in the car. In other photos, body parts were strewn around the place, as well as vehicle debris.

Vella says a paramedic covered the victim's remains with white sheets, while police officers and soldiers secured the scene and the area surrounding the victim's home.

14:49 Around 10 police officers have been called as witnesses, but Police Constable Clinton Vella is testifying on behalf of the group.

Vella tells jurors that, in 2017, the officers were appointed as court experts to assist with the investigation. Their role was to secure and preserve the crime scene, collect evidence and support experts from the Netherlands Forensic Institute during their examination of the site.

14:40 Court is back in session, as jurors are to hear further tesimony.

12:20: The court takes its lunch break a little bit earlier than usual.  The session will resume at around 2:30pm.

12:15: Court is back in session, with another eyewitness testifying.

Francis Sant testifies that he was driving from Mosta and passed across the bridge to Bidnija when he noticed a car coming in the opposite direction, with the driver inside seeming panicked.  He stopped his car, and the car opposite stopped as well.

He described seeing the driver – a woman – looking panicked and unable to move, and then seeing a spark from under the car, like a feast petard. “She was conscious at the time, jammed to the steering wheel. After another few seconds, I heard her screaming," he said. 

After the first explosion, Caruana Galizia was still alive, the witness continued, and then a second, much bigger explosion happened.  He recalled seeing body parts fly out through the windscreen and the car careen into a field before turning into a ball of fire.

Sant says that he panicked and told the driver of another car which had come in the opposite direction to call an ambulance. “In the confusion of it all, I didn't know what I was supposed to do," he said.

Matthew Caruana Galizia appeared soon after and that made Sammut realise who the victim had been. He said that he was under severe shock, and he gave his statement to the police in the evening at his residence.

11:20: Two more witnesses take to the stand.

The first is Carmel Wallace Sammut, who lives near the camping area at the Victoria Lines.  He recalls seeing a white rental car parked in the area for a long time before the murder – something which he felt was unusual.

"The first time I saw the car, it was parked near the barriers. There was a person inside. Then I started seeing it more frequently," he says.

He also recalled a silver Peugeot car parked in the road, which only appeared in the week before the murder, and including hours before the murder.  After the murder, he never saw the cars again.

Under cross-examination, he said that the silver car used to be parked in such a way that it would block the road – but nobody would be inside it. He is also asked about his description of the man inside the car as being “stiff.”

“He kept looking straight ahead. I don't know, go figure. Everyone's wiser after the fact," he says. 

Sammut’s wife, Maria Sammut Grech, is the next on the witness stand and she noted similar patterns with regards to the two vehicles.  She said that she only saw the silver car once, and it had two men inside it at that time.

On the day of the crime she said that she saw the white car parked there in the morning when she left the house.  When she returned home at 1pm and left again at 2:30pm, the car was still there.

The session is now on a break for half an hour.

10:50: Two police officers who were at the scene of the crime when the report of the murder came in are next to testify.

First up is Constable Mario Farrugia, who was part of the police’s Rapid Intervention Unit at the time.

He recalled the unit receiving a call about a burning car in a field in Bidnija at around 3pm, and recalled finding the Civil Protection Department putting the fire out when they arrived.

Farrugia recalled seeing what was left of the car in the middle of the road but said he could not get too close.  He also recalled two men arguing with each other but said that things calmed down quite quickly.

A pick-up drove through the road before it could be cordoned off.  The pick-up was stopped but the driver owned a field in the area.  His vehicle was searched and nothing illegal or suspicious was found.

Next on the stand was Sergeant Suzanne Mifsud, who was on shift at the Mosta Police Station at the time of the crime.

She arrived on the scene at around 3:20pm, by which time the police tape had already been setup.  She recalls seeing the car burning in the field, and seeing the roof of the car pushed upwards, which made her realise that the incident was a result of the bomb.

She said that she saw body parts strewn across the scene, and also spoke to a witness at the scene, who had been passing through the road and saw the burning car, which is when Matthew Caruana Galizia ran out of his house and, in the heat of the moment, broke the witness’ phone.

The next day, Mifsud said that she focused on setting up fixed police points at the field and the Caruana Galizia residence close by.

10:35: Defence lawyer Gianella De Marco then asks about Chris Cardona, and the expert confirms that Cardona is mentioned in the report in connection with the golden passports scheme and the brothel scandal that he had been caught up in.

She then asks: "Am I correct that Yorgen Fenech does not feature in any scenarios?"

The expert confirms that Fenech did not feature, and his testimony concludes.

10:25: Van der Meer says that based on the data that he analysed, Caruana Galizia had been investigating seven “scenarios” at the time of her murder.  He clarified however that his job was not to identify any suspects.

The defence asks the expert about these scenarios, and specifically whether Keith Schembri’s name cropped up anywhere, particularly within the context of scandals related to the Panama Papers, passport kickbacks, or other “investment scandals.”

"No one person was identified or mentioned by me as a possible instigator through the possible scenarios,” van der Meer replied.

Van der Meer also said that someone else had cloned the phone, and he had just been given the extracted data which was in English.  He did not put together data that was in Maltese, he said.

10:05: Court expert Martin Bajada presents a report which details the extraction that was carried out on Caruana Galizia’s phone.  The report has been partially redacted in order to protect her journalistic sources.

Europol expert Marius van der Meer testifies next about the report.  He says he was appointed on 1 March 2018 by the inquiring magistrate to investigate the content of the data that was extracted from the journalist’s phone.

He tells the jury that he looked at data both on the phone’s hard drive and its cloud, and details some of the data that was found, which consisted of emails, documents, and WhatsApp messages. 

09:50: The experts confirm their signatures and participation in the reports penned by their colleagues which related to the crime scene reconstruction and the explosives used in the bombing.

One of the experts also says that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s phone – which the court heard was found under the left wheel of her car at the crime scene – was analysed in the Netherlands before then being sent back to the police in Malta.

Their testimony is hampered by poor sound quality on the video call, but regardless it comes to an end with no cross-examination from the defence.

09:30: Three forensic experts from the Netherlands Forensic Institute will be up first to testify.  They will testify together through a video call about a report written by fellow Dutch expert Marcel van Beest, who testified yesterday.

09:20: The judge and jury have made their way into the courtroom and proceedings for the day may now commence.

08:45: Good morning and welcome to the eighth day of this trial-by-jury. 

We expect proceedings to get underway shortly, at around 9am.