The trial by jury of businessman Yorgen Fenech has entered its 34th day, with self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma taking the stand for the second day running

In Friday's sitting, Theuma told jurors that he began secretly recording the businessman because he feared betrayal and believed only the recordings could protect him, saying: "He's a lion and I'm a mosquito."

He gave a detailed account of the plot to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, consistently identifying businessman Yorgen Fenech as the sole mastermind behind the 2017 car bombing.

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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10:24: Prior to a short recess, defence lawyer Charles Mercieca interjects to object to the prosecution's interrogation method, arguing that state witness Melvin Theuma was being asked leading and suggestive questions.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima sustains the point, cautioning the prosecution against asking leading questions or repeating prompts.

The judge instructed prosecutors to ensure that Theuma testifies entirely of his own free will, preventing any impression that his answers are being steered by suggestive questioning from the bench.

Court will resume at 10:30.

10:19: In a dramatic outburst, Melvin Theuma turned directly to presiding Judge Edwina Grima to express his anguish over the fallout his family faced as a result of his involvement in the assassination.

Melvin Theuma: "Madam Justice, I am involved in the homicide, but they involved my family! A €75,000 fine, and they stripped my daughter of her accountant's warrant-that's what I got in return!"

10:18: State witness Melvin Theuma tells the court how Yorgen Fenech made light of potential police interrogations.

Theuma: "Yorgen said: 'If they arrest you, I will wait for you outside the depot with pastizzi.'"

Prosecutor Godwin Cini: "You mentioned being given police questions in advance..."

Melvin Theuma: "For example, if they were planning to ask me where certain money came from, and I didn't like the question, I could cut that question out. That is what Johann Cremona had promised me."

Cini: "Did the list of questions ever arrive?"

Theuma: "No, they never did"

Cini: "Were you promised anything else?"

Theuma: "Johann had also promised me a list of all the properties that would be raided.

Cini: "Did this list ever arrive?"

Theuma: "No, neither."

10:09: Prosecutor Godwin Cini: "Yesterday you testified that Yorgen said things that calmed you in many ways, such as telling you that their power is money. Did he ever do or tell you other things to calm you down?"

Melvin Theuma: "He told me that '[He] was the one to ruin it. It's not fair that [Theuma] takes on the burden, for [Theuma] to carry the weight.'"

Theuma testifies regarding a failed property loan in San Ġwann in the months leading up to his arrest, citing his money laundering case

GC: "Months before the arrest, you applied for a loan on a property in San Ġwann?"

MT: "I did. The sanction letter was issued, but they retracted it. Johann Cremona used to tell me I was being investigated for various financial crimes. He would tell me I'm being investigated on all these things, but would tell me not to worry."

10:00: Prosecutor Godwin Cini: "When Mario asked for €80,000 and Yorgen wasn't answering you, why did you want to talk to Keith Schembri?"

Melvin Theuma: "To get Yorgen Fenech to understand that I needed the €80,000, to see where he was going to get it from-whether Keith gives them to me, whatever. It is true that the police found money at my home, but with the lotto I ran, one day you have this glass (pointing to a paper cup) and the next day you have nothing. It was a game."

09:52: Theuma details a second meeting involving himself, Fenech, and Johann Cremona at Fenech's Portomaso offices, where the ongoing funding for the hitmen was discussed.

Theuma: "We met at Level 21, Portomaso."

Prosecutor Cini: "How did you end up there?"

MT: "Not in my car, nor in Johann's, but we went there. We talked about not cutting off the Degiorgios' money until their trial by jury."

GC: "What money?"

MT: "The €2,000 or €3,000 a week, whether to stop giving them money until their jury."

GC: "Did you know anything about the Degiorgios' jury?"

MT: "No, I did not know anything."

09:48: Theuma: "Around a month or two before we were arrested - no more than that, it was summer - Yorgen bought a ticket for me to go to France with him. But a day before, I told him I wasn't going. I thought he was going to kill me. For sure, the ticket was given to Marlene Fenech instead."

09:45: MT: "There was another episode where my partner, Charmaine, was in the car with us. I was having a glass of whisky with Yorgen, and he told me: 'If I see something bad coming up, I'll give him a million and the situation goes away.' I just left after that."

09:38: MT: "There was another episode where Yorgen Fenech asked me to pick him up from the airport around 7am - he was arriving from London, to my knowledge. It was a few days before my aunt passed away, and I didn't feel up to going. I told him my aunt had just died, so I dispatched another driver from the Hilton to collect him. He brought back a Lego set for my son and two battery-operated e-cigarettes. Then, Yorgen gave me a piece of meat which he had allegedly poisoned. I told my partner to throw it away immediately. Yorgen found out and told me he was disappointed that I threw it out."

GC: "Why did you think Yorgen was trying to poison you?"

MT: "It just entered my mind like that."

09:33: Prosecutor Godwin Cini: "Explain these three episodes you mentioned yesterday, involving yourself, Yorgen Fenech, and Johann Cremona."

Melvin Theuma: "There was a time when Yorgen had argued with his wife and was staying at his farmhouse. In the morning, I met Johann at his garage, and we picked up some pastizzi on the way to the farmhouse. We talked about money, about Ms. Daphne Caruana Galizia, and so on. I told Yorgen, 'This isn't your place, to be here on your own.' Johann was then reassuring Yorgen that he was indeed passing the money on to Mario Degiorgio and not keeping it for himself. I wanted Mario and Yorgen to meet directly-I just couldn't handle going to Fenech for money anymore. I simply couldn't take it."

09:30: State witness Melvin Theuma tells the court that Yorgen Fenech told him about former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta following their encounter at Fenech's Żebbuġ ranch.

Melvin Theuma (MT): "When I was driving him to the airport, Yorgen told me: 'Mr. Valletta saw you, you're not a new face to the police force.' I went mad - I had only ever had one case with the police in my life. I told him this was a huge deal, to have someone that high up in the force telling him such things."

GC: "Did you ever discuss Valletta's role in the investigation?"

MT: "Daphne's family wanted to remove Mr. Valletta from the case, and Yorgen and I were discussing that very issue."

09:25: Theuma details how former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta was directly linked to information leaks surrounding the investigation, recalling a specific encounter at Yorgen Fenech's Żebbuġ property a few weeks after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Theuma explicitly testifies that former Deputy Commissioner Silvio Valletta passed inside information regarding the murder investigation directly to Yorgen Fenech.

He recalls once receiving an afternoon call from Fenech asking him to deliver two loaves of bread to his farmhouse in Żebbuġ.

Driving his Jaguar, Theuma explains how he arrived at the property's metal gate and called Fenech to signal his arrival.

After parking in front of the farmhouse door, Theuma saw Silvio Valletta standing directly behind the door, noting that Valletta looked right at him as Fenech came out to collect the bread.

09:16: State witness Melvin Theuma (MT) has resumed his testimony in court, testifying while seated with a camera directed at his face, displaying his expressions on the courtroom monitors as he looked down and around the hall.

Prosecutor Godwin Cini (GC): "You testified regarding the garage episode, that episode where Kenneth Camilleri left a paper with three numbers... After that episode, did you ever talk to Kenneth Camilleri?"

MT: "I don't know if Kenneth called Johann [Cremona] or vice versa, but Johann gave me his mobile, and I spoke to Kenneth."

GC: "What did Kenneth tell you?"

MT: "He told that we are going to paint it as you are not involved in anything, as if the police don't know anything."

GC: "Regarding what?"

MT: "The homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia."

09:05: Judge Edwina Grima enters the courtroom.

The sitting is expected to begin soon.

09:05: Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of Yorgen Fenech's jury trial in which he is facing charges for his complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Confessed middleman Melvin Theuma is expected to continue his testimony.