Yorgen Fenech's trial moves into its second weekend, during which jurors are due to hear from experts from the American FBI after Friday's emotionally charged sitting.

This testimony follows one of the trial's most harrowing days so far.

On Friday, first responders, forensic experts, and crime scene investigators painstakingly retraced the events of 16 October 2017 and pieced together the aftermath of the car bomb that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

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.

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.

10:33 Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco beings by asking Fennern to confirm that two SIM cards were involved in the plot: one used for the calls and the other for the detonation. Fennern agrees.

The defence retraces the timeline, pointing to the SIM card activity on 10 January 2017, 21 August 2017, and 16 October 2017.

Fennern tells the court that the SIM card used on 16 October was later inserted into a GSM module; a device that connects to the mobile network and can be used to trigger external equipment remotely.

10:29 Fennern tells the court that the SIM cards worked in tandem to carry out the placement and detonation of the bomb. He says the phone number linked to George Degiorgio played a role in triggering the explosion.

And with that, FBI Officer Fennern wraps up his evidence. The prosecution takes its seat and the defence takes its feet. The witness will now be cross-examined.

"The phones, for want of a better term, were burner phones used to carry out this bombing," he tells the court.

He shifts to Alfred Degiorgio's personal phone. Fennern says the location data from 15 October placed Alfred Degiorgio's phone in the same area as the burner phones, being around St Paul's Bay.

On 16 October, the phone was active between 2:04am and 4:46am before dropping off the network. The phone does not reconnect until after 3pm, when it again resurfaces in the St Paul's Bay area. Shortly after reconnecting, the phone receives a text message from George Degiorgio.

Fennern notes to the court that the activity on Alfred Degiorgio's phone is consistent with the movement and network data which was already examined.

10:20 Fennern goes through his report with the jury, detailing maps and bearings recorded by the network.

10:12 Next, Fennern takes the court through pages of telecoms data, noting call durations, timestamps, cell site connections, and the locations in which each of the three burner phones connected to the network.

Now at around page 60 of the report, Fennern turns to location updates. He explains that the network periodically logged each device's position by recording the cell sector it was connected to.

The report includes numerous coverage maps, sector overlays, azimuth calculations, and cell site analysis. Azimuth calculations are used to determine an objects exact bearing from an observer's location.

9:57 Fennern states he was confident in identifying the two phone numbers used to detonate the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as three additional numbers suspected of being linked to the crime. He noted that all three of these phones appeared to move in tandem toward the same locations.

Fennern moves on to the call records linked to the burner phones used during the murder. He displays an overlay map which shows how the cell sectors overlapped at the time the bomb went off.

Fennern focuses on a call that lasted from 2:57pm until 2:59pm. This phone call coincided with the time the fatal text message was sent. This call stood out to investigators.

The call was made between two phone numbers which differed only by their last digit. Fennern explains that mobile numbers are often handed out consecutively. This similarity grabbed investigator's attention.   

Additionally, these two phone numbers had only ever called each other.

9:36 The suspicious phone number was activated on just three occasions: 10 January 2017, 21 August 2017, and 16 October 2017. The January activity consisted only of a top-up text and a confirmation message, Fennern says. Fennern now turns to the activity recorded on 16 October, the day Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated.

The device was switched on at 1:41am, over 12 hours before the bomb went off. From that point on, the network logged regular location updates roughly once every hour. Fennern explains that these location updates are routine network check-ins, adding that the mobile network is constantly checking where a device is located.

At 2:58:55pm, the phone sent out the message that detonated the bomb and murdered the journalist. Seconds later, the device disappeared from the network.

9:21 Fennern testifies that he analysed activity at a cell tower near the murder scene between 2:58pm and 3:16pm, identifying 53 unique phone numbers connected during that period. By October 23, only one of those numbers had become inactive, marking it as a subject of interest. Fenner noted that the number was highly suspicious, as it had only been validated by the network three times in total: once in January, once in August, and for a final time on the day of the murder. 

Fennern shows the court a map pinpointing each of the cell towers included in his report. He asks the jurors to picture each cell tower like a clock with 360 degrees. Each circle marked on the map represents a Vodafone cell tower, Fennern explains, with every tower split into three sectors. These sectors provide coverage to a particular area. Fennern now zooms in on the Bidnija tower. He recalls that investigators requested the cell data for the Bidnija sector, narrowing the information down to the approximate time of the assassination.

From there, investigators went on to identify about 50 phone numbers which were in contact with one another during the relevant timeframe. The next step, Fennern says, was to work out which of those numbers had since gone inactive. Only one number had disappeared from the records, and immediately stood out as suspicious.

9:12 FBI expert Richard Fennern, a specialist in cellular analysis, began his testimony today. He described his initial work in Malta, where he met with local telecommunications providers to understand their network infrastructure and the positioning of cellular towers. He explained that each tower is assigned a unique identifier and provides 360-degree signal coverage. 

9:10 The jurors have antered the courtroom and the proceedings are about to start.