Yorgen Fenech Told Police He Was Involved In Daphne’s Murder But Insisted Keith Schembri Ordered It

Inspector Kurt Zahra walked jurors through Yorgen Fenech’s four-hour statement to police, where he admitted being involved and providing money for Daphne’s murder and the hitmen after their arrest – but painted Keith Schembri as the one who ordered the hit and Theuma as the man who organised it.

On 29th November, Fenech’s lawyers asked that the police present at his house be removed. Zahra explained that officers feared Fenech would attempt to escape. That evening, Zahra took an audiovisual statement of Fenech, in the presence of his lawyers. That Audiovisual recording of Fenech’s statement to police was described and then shown to jurors. 

“At first, he began speaking about what he wanted to speak about and not answer my questions about the murder. Whenever I asked him about the murder, he told me that I wasn’t listening and that I was defending the government. “I wasn’t going to let me manipulate me during my own interrogation. You had to continue asking, especially questions about the murder,” Zahra explained

“[Yorgen Fenech] told us that the plan to murder Daphne didn’t begin with him, and that Keith Schembri started it. He told us that around October or November 2016, he was at the ranch in Haz-Zebbug with Melvin Theuma, Keith Schembri and others. There, they were speaking about Daphne and the damage she was doing to the government and Keith Schembri, who was sick at the time. Fenech told us that when Melvin dropped him off at home, he said they could get rid of her quickly. 

“Yorgen Fenech told us that while driving him to the airport, Melvin Theuma told him that he knew some people who would kill Daphne. Yorgen told us that he told Melvin he would speak to him about it. He told us that when Melvin Theuma picked him up, he mentioned the €150,000 fee.”

“Yorgen told us that he told him no – and that he went to Keith Schembri, who then told him “mexxi, mexxi” and to proceed with it. He said he said ok and went to speak to Theuma and gave him €50,000 for it but wanted nothing to do with it.”

“Yorgen Fenech confirmed that he passed a substantial amount of money to the hitmen after the murder. I asked him, what obligation did you have to do it? He said he wanted to protect Keith Schembri. He also said he felt threatened by Melvin Theuma…but there were inconsistencies.” Zahra was saying when he was cut off by the defence. “We’ll see in the recording,” Zahra told them.

“Fenech said that Keith Schembri had wanted to kill Daphne since 2014/2015 and had paid €30,000 around that time, but the plan never materialised. He told us that Schembri gave him between €75,000 and €80,000 in a Reebok bag for the murder.

“I asked him why he never mentioned Keith Schembri in the recordings. Yorgen told me that he wanted to protect Keith Schembri.”

“He also told me that he and his family were threatened by Theuma – but messages showed that Theuma was picking up Fenech and his kids right up until the arrest.”

“Fenech also mentioned Joseph Muscat, Adrian Vella and Johann Cremona – but he said they all knew about the plot after the murder”

Zahra also added that Fenech denied attempting to escape. 

Inspector Kurt Zahra joined the homicide department in 2017 and has been in the corps for 24 years.  He has been on the case since 16th October 2017, the day of Daphne’s murder. He had been in the department for around 7 years. Received a call about the incident at 3:10 pm – a few minutes after the bomb.

Zahra walked the jurors through the investigation into Daphne’s murder: from the preliminary stages to the hitmen, the middleman Melvin Theuma and the accused Yorgen Fenech, repeating and corroborating previous testimony & timelines given by other police officers, experts and witnesses. This included the plot to murder Daphne, the payments to the hitmen, both for the assassination and while they were in prison, and the contents of Theuma’s evidence box.

Zahra explained that between 20th and 29th November, Fenech was granted police bail pending investigations and had not taken a full statement. Zahra told the jurors that police brought at least 30 different people for interrogation, based upon the information provided by both Fenech and Theuma. 

On 25th November, Fenech informed Zahra and investigators that the previous day, Dr Adrian Vella passed on notes with a script from Keith Schembri on what Fenech should say. The document had two fonts: one printed and another handwritten by Fenech. It was previously revealed that the document detailed a plot to frame then-Minister Chris Cardona. 

“Vella told us that when Yorgen received the notes, he began writing and said: If I’m going down, I’m taking them down with me,” Zahra told the court. 

Vella confirmed passing on the notes but has insisted he didn’t know what was in the documents. At the same time, Schembri has also denied sending the letter and said Vella had collected medical documents.

Fenech told investigators that on the 19th November, he was speaking to Keith Schembri. This was documented in a series of messages and call logs already presented to the court. 

On Vella, Zahra confirmed several details beyond the notes, namely the episodes at his Gozo residence with Yorgen and Franco Fenech. This includes fantastical cocaine-fuelled plots to escape the island – and even a claim that Fenech and Schembri communicated on the phone while on the way up to Gozo.

Fenech, on his part, has denied all claims that he was trying to escape the island. 

Police investigated the claims. Zahra insisted that before the 25th November, Schembri was not considered a person of interest in the murder itself. That changed after Fenech’s statement. He detailed the arrests of Vella and, later, Schembri. 

Zahra was with Arnaud for Schembri’s arrest, which has been under intense scrutiny throughout the trial. Schembri was arrested at 6:15 am on 26th November. He told them he had resigned as Chief of Staff that evening and that he had “lost” his mobile phone after police could not find it during their search. He added that a separate team conducted another search to seize all devices in Schembri’s home. 

“We explained to Ketih Schembri what was going to happen. We told him to indicate which devices to take. Schembri told scene-of-crime officers not to take one of the laptops as it was his daughter’s, but we refused that request and took five devices,” Zahra explained. 

Zahra faced direct questions on the two mobile phones that appeared on photos from scene-of-crime officers. 

“We had already done a search, and we knew what was in the house and what we needed to seize. There were no mobile phones when we did the search in the morning. I can’t tell you who the phone belonged to, but in the second search there were family members present, and since police didn’t seize them, it’s assumed they belonged to them,” Zahra said.