The Case Against Yorgen Fenech And How He Allegedly Murdered Daphne Caruana Galizia Outlined On First Day Of Trial

The first day of the trial against Yorgen Fenech has wrapped up, with the prosecution outlining the raw facts of its case against the businessman accused of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

The day was dominated by jury selection, which started just after 9 am and continued till roughly 2 pm. The trial began at around 16:45. Justice Edwina Grima outlined the workings of the trial to the jury members, urging them to ignore the extensive reporting on the case in previous years, telling them that reported facts and evidence that prove guilt are two different things.

At the start, the bill of indictment was read out before the jury, highlighting the state’s case against Fenech, whose legal team, which includes Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran, now officially counts Gianella de Marco as a member. The defence team had a large pile of files right by their desk. Fenech, who sported a suntan, sat slightly behind them.

The facts outlined in the bill of indictment are below:

On 16th October 2017 at 14:58, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, was murdered in a car bomb near her home in Bidnija, on the outskirts of Mosta. The bomb was placed under the driver’s seat of the vehicle. It was detonated remotely by SMS.

The prosecution described the graphic details of the murder to the jury in striking detail.

The prosecution alleges that on a day in April 2017, the accused, Yorgen Fenech, called Melvin Theuma and asked him to go to the Hilton, a hotel within Fenech’s empire, outside the restaurant, Blue Elephant.

Theuma and Fenech were described as “close friends” by the prosecution. Theuma, the prosecution said, was a taxi driver who held a taxi stand at the Hilton and drove Fenech and his family members to and from the airport when they travelled. 

Outside the restaurant, Fenech is accused of having ordered Theuma to find someone to murder Caruana Galizia. Fenech mentioned “Ġorġ iċ-Ċiniż tal-Marsa”, the nickname of George Degiorgio. According to the prosecution, Fenech told Theuma he wanted to murder Caruana Galizia over information she was set to publish about him or Fenech’s uncle, Ray Fenech.

According to the prosecution, Theuma made contact with George Degiorgio through his brother Alfred, known as “Il-Fulu”. Theuma and Alfred Degiorgio eventually met at a potato shed in Marsa. Here, Theuma informed Degiorgio that “a person” wanted to murder Caruana Galizia.  Two days later, the pair met again, this time in a coffee shop in Msida. Here, Degiorgio quoted the price of €150,000 to murder the journalist.  €30,000 would be an unrefundable deposit, while €120,000 would be paid after the murder. 

The prosecution said that Theuma informed Fenech of the price. On the 1st of May 2017, the day the general election was called, Fenech allegedly called Theuma to put the murder on hold. Around two weeks after the election’s conclusion on 3rd June 2017, which saw Joseph Muscat’s Labour Party win, Fenech allegedly told Theuma to proceed with the plan.

Prosecutors said that Theuma claims that Fenech provided him with €150,000 in a brown envelope. Theuma then provided the €30,000 deposit to Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat. 

Days, weeks and months passed. The prosecution said that Fenech allegedly became nervous and told Theuma to “run after” Alfred Degiorgio, his brother, and Vince Muscat, fearing she was about to publish information about him.

Over that period, the Degiorgio brothers and Muscat planned the murder, which they have all been convicted of, along with bomb supplier Robert Agius and Jamie Vella. 

The three hitmen met regularly in Bidnija, observing Caruana Galizia’s residence and movements. The opportunity arose on the evening of 15th October 2017, when Caruana Galizia parked her car on the road and placed the highly explosive bomb under her seat.

Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat stood watch. Muscat detonated the bomb while aboard his Cabin Cruiser, Maya, via SMS with the code “#rel1 = on”.

In the days following the murder, Alfred Degiorgio collected the rest of the €120,000 from Theuma. Degiorgio asked for an additional €5,000 for items they had not anticipated purchasing, such as binoculars. According to Theuma and the bill of inducement, Fenech allegedly provided thousands of euro to finance the legal defence of Alfred and George Degiorgio, who were arrested and charged with the murder in December 2017.

Fenech has been accused of complicity in voluntary homicide and conspiracy by ordering and procuring the murder of Caruana Galizia.

The trial continues on Thursday 2nd July at 9am.