The trial by jury of businessman Yorgen Fenech has entered its 33rd day, with the cross-examination of former family doctor Adrian Vella expected to continue before Madam Justice Edwina Grima.
Thursday's sitting heard Vella recount Yorgen Fenech's deteriorating mental state and cocaine addiction in the days leading up to his arrest in November 2019.
He also told jurors he heard Fenech say, "If I go down, they'll all go down with me," after delivering documents he had collected from the home of former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri to Fenech at Portomaso.
The court also heard Vella describe the chaotic events surrounding a trip to Gozo following the arrest of self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma, while prosecutors played jurors a recording of the doctor's 2019 police interrogation.
Vella has remained under court supervision overnight ahead of the resumption of his testimony on Friday.
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, Giannella 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.
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10:02 De Marco again refers to Vella's previous testimony, reading the following passage to the court:
"Fenech said, 'This guy is going to bring me down. I'm fed up of him sowing seeds in my mind, indoctrinating me about what to say. If we go down, we go down together.'"
(Xbajt idaħħali flieles f'moħħi, jindottrinani x'ngħid. Jekk ninżlu, ninżlu flimkien.)
Vella says he remembered the final part of the statement and recalls being surprised to hear Fenech say those words.
09:54 De Marco notes that on Thursday, Vella testified that after he handed Yorgen Fenech the papers, Fenech told him: "If I go down, they'll all go down with me."
She points out that Vella never mentioned this to investigators during his interrogation.
Vella agrees and reiterates that Fenech was in a state of panic.
"I asked him if he wanted me to read the papers to him," he says.
Vella then points towards one of Fenech's lawyers, Gianluca Caruana Curran.
"Even you... I think you offered to read the papers for him," he says.
09:50 De Marco reads out an extract from Vella's 2020 testimony about his police interrogation.
"He (the commissioner) started calling me a liar. I can't remember exactly why, but he kept calling me a liar. When I told them where I got the papers from, he called me a liar and said I got the papers from someone in the street. I don't know if he was trying to catch me out. I was shaking."
Vella confirms that account.
"He was telling me, 'You wrote the paper' or 'someone in the street gave you the paper,'" he says.
09:40 Vella confirms that he was interrogated by police for 17 hours.
"I felt lost," he tells the court. "I'm not used to these kinds of situations."
Asked whether he was informed why he had been arrested, Vella replies: "I assumed it was because of the papers. The commissioner was calling me a liar and alleging that I wrote the papers. Eventually he left the room and made some calls."
09:35 Vella confirms that former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar was present in the interrogation room while he was being questioned.
"He kept saying, 'Hurry up, I want to go to sleep' (Iddumx ħa mmur norqod)," Vella tells the court.
De Marco asks whether, every time he told investigators Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra that Keith Schembri had given him the documents, Cutajar interrupted by saying, "Liar, liar" (giddieb, giddieb).
Vella replies that he cannot recall the exact words but remembers Cutajar saying something to that effect.
09:30 Vella confirms that he deleted all of his WhatsApp chats while being driven to police headquarters.
"Yes, I deleted the whole app," he says.
De Marco asks whether, once at police headquarters, he handed his phone over to the police.
Vella replies that he did, along with his passwords. He says the phone was returned to him a few days later in a brown envelope.
Vella also says that his original lawyer, Stefano Filletti, later told him "he did not want to assist me anymore."
De Marco asks whether Filletti had told him he had a conflict of interest.
"Yes... I'm not sure," Vella replies.
09:25 De Marco continues reading from Vella's previous testimony.
"On our way up (to Gozo) I gave him a box of Ativan (an anti-anxiety medication). You'd have to be crazy to take a box, but he asked me for some Ativan."
Vella clarifies that by "box" he could have been referring to a strip of pills.
"I never had boxes of Ativan, I had strips," he says.
Questioning then shifts to the police search of Vella's home.
Vella says officers began banging on his door at around 11.30pm.
De Marco: "Were you afraid?"
Vella: "Totally."
De Marco: "You called Keith [Schembri] at 11.30pm or 12.30am, right? Not at 5am."
Vella: "Correct. At 5am I was under arrest."
[The last registered activity on Schembri's phone was at 5.03am. Schembri testified that it was Vella's call.]
09:19 Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco continues her cross-examination of Adrian Vella.
Vella confirms that during his initial testimony in the compilation of evidence, he said that Yorgen Fenech never intended to flee.
He also confirms referring to Keith Schembri as "the chief".
De Marco begins asking him about when Yorgen went to Gozo.
He insists that despite other people's testimonies, Yorgen Fenech never wanted to escape.
Vella confirms that that evening, he left Yorgen in Gozo and went back home to Malta in the evening. The day after he called Fenech again but he did not answer him. He says this was normal.
De Marco now quotes his personal statement, from 27 November 2019.
In this statement he was referring to the morning after he left Yorgen in Gozo.
"Then when we went to gozo, in the morning Ray called him, Keith called him, I called him, Marie called him. He was so bad, that evening we were saying we hope he does not commit suicide."
He explains that the day after he returned to where Yorgen was in Gozo, he had the key to the house but did not find him, so they went upstairs to his bedroom.
He had said that they found Fenech in his bed appearing dishevelled and dazed.
Vella says he is trying hard to refresh his memory of what happened that day, asking "I said that?" a few times.
09:15 Judge Edwina Grima and jurors enter the courtroom.
Adrian Vella takes the witness stand to face cross examination from defence lawyer Giannella de Marco.
09:00 Good morning and welcome to day 33 of proceedings in the trial against Yorgen Fenech. We expect to get underway shortly.