'I was expecting you' - Jamie Vella arrest under scrutiny

Updated 7.20pm

Jamie Vella appeared unsurprised when police officers arrived at his residence with two arrest warrants in February 2021 - one linked to the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop and the other to the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“I was expecting you as I know certain people have been talking,” Vella reportedly told the police when they went to his residence.

The trial by jury of four men – brothers Adrian and Robert Agius (Ta’ Maksar), Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio (iċ-Ċiniż) - accused for their role in the 2015 murder of Chircop resumed on Tuesday morning.

Vella and Robert Agius are also accused of supplying the bomb in Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

They all deny the charges.

A police officer told the panel of jurors that Jamie Vella allegedly told the police that he was “expecting them” since he was aware that certain people "had been talking", [kont qed nistennikom għax kont naf li hemm min qed ipatpat”] in what seems to be a reference to state witness Vincent Muscat, il-Koħħu.

Muscat reached a plea deal in the Caruana Galizia murder and is serving a 15-year jail term and was given a presidential pardon in the Chircop murder.

When Vella was arrested he was positive to coronavirus, with the constables and inspectors involved in his arrest recalling that he was taken to Boffa Hospital for a rapid test.

The witness explained that he was with inspector Lydon Zammit when Vella reportedly claimed that he was waiting for them.

Defence lawyer Amadeus Cachia observed that the statement the officer just testified about was not in the transcript of his testimony before the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Inquiry and neither had it been noted down in his notes.

“Is there a reason why you testified about this now?” Cachia asked.

“Yes it is not on my notes but I remembered him saying this and I testified about it,” the officer said.

As the defence pressed on why he chose to testify about this now, the witness insisted that he had heard Vella say as much.

During Tuesday’s sitting, the jurors heard that Chircop was hit by four bullets fired in his chest and back, and that these were fired from a distance of 2m away from the victim.

They also heard inspector Shawn Pawney, who explained that that the Agius brothers and Vella were arrested after Muscat started revealing information to the police on Chircop’s murder.

From his testimony it emerged that the police found a brown substance underneath the driver seat in Adrian Agius’ car which later turned out to be a mix of paracetamol and caffeine. A court expert later explained that this is used as a cutting agent in drugs.

The jurors also heard how the car Agius had been using was registered on Josephine Bugeja. Bugeja told the police she did not know Adrian Agius. Police investigations showed that she had six vehicles registered on her name. The woman told the police that different people would approach her to register their vehicles on her, and simply told the investigating officers that “someone would aproach her and ask to register the vehicle in her name”.

Inspector Shawn Pawney did not investigate the other vehicles registered on Bugeja’s name, and recalled that that the woman could not give a description of Agius neither that of the vehicle being used by the accused. All she knew was that she signed the document.

In Adrian Agius’ car, the police found over €3,000 in cash. They also seized three mobile phones and documents which were later deemed not relevant to the case.

During a search at his Mellieħa home, the police found a safe in the bedroom. Agius reportedly told them that “they would do him a favour if they removed it”. When they opened the safe later at the police headquarters, the investigators found documents belonging to the original owner of the residence.

At Adrian Agius’ home they found another four mobiles, but it emerged that the three found in the car “seemed to be active”.

Several police officers involved in the searches at the Agius’ brothers home and properties testified in the case as well as those involved in searches in connection to Vella recounting what they found and their role in the investigation.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima is presiding over the trial by jury.

Prosecutors Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Anthony Vella are prosecuting on behalf of the AG Office.

Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud is assisting Adrian Agius.

Lawyers Ishmael Psaila and Amadeus Cachia are assisting Jamie Vella. 

Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin are assisting Robert Agius.

Lawyers Noel Bianco and Leslie Cuschieri are assisting George Degiorgio. 

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia is assisting the Caruana Galizia family.

Lawyer Vince Galea is assisting the Chircop family.