Memes mocking Keith Schembri have been shared on social media after it emerged in court that his mobile phone is not part of police evidence because he has "lost" it.
Police Inspector Keith Arnaud revealed the phone was missing on Thursday during his testimony in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Among the people pointing out that the 'Find My iPhone' app might come in handy for the prime minister's former chief of staff, was his own Labour Party chief executive Randolph DeBattista.
He posted: "He's lost it. Oh, come on!" #findmyiphone"
Mr Arnaud testified that when Mr Schembri was asked about his mobile phone he claimed he did not know where he put it. The chief of staff kept saying he misplaced his phone, which has not yet been found.
In response to the news, discourse on social media erupted into humorous disbelief, with many expressing that it was incredulous that Mr Schembri had claimed to simply lose his phone at such an opportune moment.
Others used remarks from One television host Karl Stagno Navarra, who some weeks ago made a tearful plea urging his viewers to light candles in the windows of their homes in support of outgoing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
A cheeky limerick accompanied by a picture Mr Stagno Navarro asks people to light a devotion to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost objects, to help Mr Schembri recover his phone through divine intervention.
One commenter said he would be setting up a GoFundMe on behalf of Mr Schembri to recuperate the loss of his phone.
A more somber image, in reference to the murder investigation, featured a blood-soaked phone. It was published shared by anti-Muscat protest organisers, next to a mock statement from the Office of the Prime Minister asking whoever found it to return the phone to Castille posthaste.
The notice also said that good Samaritans would be rewarded with a phantom government job they wouldn't have to show up for, a reference to the role given to alleged murder middleman Melvin Theuma's testimony.