The jury trial of businessman Yorgen Fenech enters its 22nd day today, with the court set to hear from a fresh slate of witnesses following an explosive sitting on Friday.

Proceedings resume following the conclusion of testimony from Kenneth Camilleri, a former police officer who joined Joseph Muscat's security detail at the Office of the Prime Minister after 2013, and business associate Johann Cremona.

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

Caruana Galizia, a columnist with The Malta Independent, 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.

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12:18 Following a brief recess due to fireworks disrupting the sitting, digital forensics expert Keith Cutajar takes the stand to complete his response to the juror's question, saying that the answer to their question is far from a simple "yes or no."

Cutajar explains that digital evidence exists across multiple formats and levels of accessibility. While service providers can supply call and location logs for a specific mobile number, the physical content stored locally on a handset cannot be retrieved through a network provider. 

"An SMS belongs to the service provider, but not every provider logs the actual message content," Cutajar testifies.

He notes that under Maltese law, telecom operators are only obligated to retain data records of activity, not the content of the communications themselves.

Regarding engineering data, he adds that providers retain these files solely at their own discretion.

11:42 The juror states that a question that worries her and fellow jurors is whether a lost mobile phone can be cloned, specifically, whether Daphne Caruana Galizia's burnt phone could be cloned.

The expert, however, could not give an answer due to extremely loud noises from fireworks seemingly going off right above the court.

The sitting will resume at noon.

11:36 A juror seated on the far right of the panel asks Cutajar for clarification regarding the digital devices seized from Keith Schembri's residence, pressing on whether they belonged exclusively to family members.

Cutajar explains the technical challenge of attributing device ownership in a house, noting that it is difficult to confirm whether a specific phone or computer was used only by one individual.

"The same devices are often shared and used by multiple people in a household," Cutajar testifies. "It is standard practice for investigators to seize all digital devices found on-site for the simple reason that a suspect could potentially use any device available to them."

The same juror follows up with a second question regarding the keyword searches conducted across the extracted data, asking whether a query for "Daphne" would return results and raising eyebrows over the fact that the name "Degiorgio" never appeared in the findings.

The juror questions whether a search for a nickname, such as "Fredu," would automatically pick up variations like "Fred."

Cutajar explains that forensic searches rely on strict technical parameters. Investigators can opt for either an "exact match" or a broader, flexible search. In this instance, he was specifically instructed to execute an exact match protocol.

He clarifies the mechanics of how the system processes these commands: if a search is set strictly for the full string "Daphne Caruana Galizia," the system will only flag that exact phrase-meaning instances where only "Daphne" appears on its own will be bypassed entirely.

11:12 Lawyer Giannella de Marco asks Cutajar about the content on Keith Schembri's data extractions.

Cutajar confirms to the court that he was unable to extract any data from two key devices seized during the police search of Keith Schembri's Mellieħa residence: an iPad and an Asus tablet.

Under cross-examination, the expert testifies that data recovered from the remaining devices seized at the property appeared to belong to members of Schembri's family rather than Schembri himself.

Addressing the audio recordings related to Melvin Theuma, Cutajar clarifies that while he was unfamiliar with how the underlying calls were originally captured, his focus was strictly on analysing the audio files, transcripts, and so on.

He notes that during his review of files handled by Europol, he had identified documentation gaps that fell short of European standards.

Presiding Judge Edwina Grima intervenes to ask for clarification: "Was the extraction the same as the one done by Europol?"

"Yes, it was. To clarify, I did not challenge the extraction," Cutajar replied.

"They passed on the data file and I only drafted the report. My role was to perform verification checks to ensure the process and data integrity remained untouched."

11:01 Prosecutor Godwin Cini directs Cutajar to a report concerning the 'Daphne Leaks' inquiry.

Cutajar explains that in 2021, he was tasked alongside other court-appointed experts with unlocking an iPhone belonging to Johann Cremona, as well as two mobile devices belonging to Kenneth Camilleri.

He testifies that standard forensic software was incapable of bypassing the devices' security, forcing experts to resort to a brute forcing mechanism, a specialised method that exploits system vulnerabilities to crack locked devices. Since the required technology was unavailable in Malta at the time, Cutajar had to transport the phones abroad to utilise specialised foreign forensic laboratories.

Cutajar personally flew to Germany, where international experts connected the devices to high-powered hardware to execute repeated cracking attempts.

He told the court that he was informed in September 2021 that both of Kenneth Camilleri's devices had been successfully breached, followed by news on 4 March 2022, that Johann Cremona's iPhone had also been unlocked.

10:46 Turning to a separate digital hard drive passed to him for analysis, Cutajar explains how he audited forensic work previously conducted by Europol and flagged several omissions in their documentation.

"The work done by an expert today needs to be documented so thoroughly that 10 years down the line, if someone were to replicate the process, they would arrive at the exact same conclusions," he explains.

However, Cutajar testifies that the Europol report lacked administrative details, such as an official case number and the identity of the specific investigator who carried out the extraction.

"I had to clarify this in the inquiry. In fact, I challenged Europol and told them to amend the report," Cutajar states, adding that while the technical data extraction itself was done well, he insisted the agency rectify the procedural gaps.

10:29 Cutajar went on to detail how investigators extracted footage from a dome camera positioned roughly 16 storeys high, offering a bird's-eye view over Valletta Port to monitor movements of the Degiorgio brothers' boat, 'Maya'. 

Prosecutor Godwin Cini directs the witness to a separate report drafted on 27 April 2020, relating to Melvin Theuma's money laundering case.

Cutajar testifies that he was present inside the courtroom to oversee the formal presentation and inventory of massive amounts of seized cash. 

"We spent an entire day overseeing all the cash bags," he told the court, describing the meticulous process of documenting the various currencies, banknote denominations, and sealed evidence bags collected during the investigation.

Across the 11 seized bags, the total cash inventory amounted to €797,440, £5,000, roughly $2,000, 520 Swedish krona, and €2,750 in electricity credit tokens.

10:12 Continuing his testimony, Keith Cutajar details the process of analysing vast amounts of video footage in the days following the blast.

"I continued extractions on 17th October with footage that was extremely long. Geographically, you pinpoint the exact area of the explosion and start fanning out, opening up the search zone bit by bit," he explains.

Cutajar was subsequently instructed to pull CCTV footage from primary road junctions across Malta, as well as specific locations, including the offices of the rental company from which Daphne Caruana Galizia leased her vehicle.

He testifies that on 4 November 2017, experts accessed the Pembroke compound where Caruana Galizia's rental car was placed after the assassination. However, investigations made at the site revealed that several cameras were already out of order.

Cutajar further notes a security vulnerability, explaining that if someone were to deliberately cut the power supply to the compound, the cameras would immediately shut down and all potential video evidence would be lost.

09:59 Prosecutor Godwin Cini directs the court expert to his initial report on the homicide, the first he drafted following the fatal explosion in Bidnija.

Cutajar recalls receiving his original order from then-Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who dispatched him to the scene of the explosion roughly two hours after the assassination. His objective was to secure and extract local CCTV footage.

"I immediately started two extractions, but I needed help. I had to retrace the entire surrounding area to secure CCTV footage," Cutajar testifies.

He states that most systems only retain data for a maximum of seven to 10 days, and therefore had to act fast. 

The IT expert tells the court that alongside securing the physical video footage on 16 October, he immediately issued a series of official requests to telecom service providers regarding several mobile lines active in the area. 

09:50 Turning to digital audio evidence, Cutajar testifies that on 3 January 2024, he was tasked with making a copy of a DVD containing an audio recording belonging to Edgar Brincat and performing a forensic enhancement to improve its clarity.

The witness explains the technical process, highlighting how he applied background noise reduction, audio normalisation, and frequency wave adjustments to make the dialogue decipherable for the proceedings.

However, Cutajar cautions that forensic enhancement has its limits.

"We do not do miracles," he noted, adding that acoustic conditions vary from one courtroom to another, making it inherently difficult for degraded audio recordings to be heard clearly in the courtroom.

09:42 Prosecutor Godwin Cini turns to a cloud extraction performed on Keith Schembri's email account.

The witness explains the process, detailing how cloud extractions pull data directly from remote servers storing backups of chats, WhatsApp conversations, emails, and related digital files.

Cutajar describes the keyword search methodology he employed, presenting the court with a specified list of names and key search terms he was tasked with executing across the extracted data sets.

Although the report is displayed on the courtroom screens, it remains unclear for the press in the gallery.

9:36 Taking the stand, court-appointed forensic expert  Keith Cutajar outlines his extensive background, explaining that he has been involved in numerous criminal investigations involving digital extractions, mobile phone unlocking, and cyber forensics.

Prosecuting lawyer Godwin Cini directs the expert to a report he drafted on 26 November 2019.

The report detailed the forensic analysis and data extraction performed on a batch of mobile phones and computers handed over to him by police officers following a raid on Keith Schembri's residence in Mellieħa.

09:29 Lawyer Charles Mercieca pushes back against the prosecution's accusations, reminding the court that cross-examination is designed by law to permit leading and suggestive questions.

Addressing the prosecution's objections regarding Kenneth Camilleri's testimony, the defence argues that it was the prosecution's own witness who had demonstrated genuine fear of Keith Schembri.

The defence asserts that while testifying behind closed doors in the public inquiry, Camilleri was allegedly approached by an individual who warned him that he had exposed Schembri, explicitly telling him that Schembri was a man to be feared.

The court decides that both parties rest on the evidence and testimonies produced in the jury's bills of indictment. The jurors have now entered.

09:24 Before the jurors pile in, the prosecution accuses the defence of repeatedly referencing testimony and documents that fall outside the official bill of indictment to unfairly influence the jury.

AG lawyer Anthony Vella formally objects to yesterday's cross-examination of former OPM security detail Kenneth Camilleri, where the defence counsel confronted him with testimony behind closed doors during the public inquiry into the assassination.

The prosecution informs the court that these claimed statements do not exist within the official acts of the jury. 

Labelling the defence's strategy as "disloyal behaviour," AG lawyer Anthony Vella argues that with the consequence that neither the prosecution nor the court could control the situation, this is tantamount to grave prejudice on the prosecution.

Today's sitting, set to begin soon, will face another slate of new witnesses.