Maksar gang lose appeal against lifetime prison sentences

The Maksar crime gang have lost an appeal against lifetime prison sentences handed to them last year, after a jury found them guilty of being involved in two separate murders.

Adrian Agius, Robert Agius, Jamie Vella, and George Degiorgio were condemned to spend the rest of their lives behind bars in June 2025, when a jury convicted them of charges related to the killings of lawyer Carmel Chircop in 2015 and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia two years later.

Chircop was shot dead early in the morning at a garage complex in Birkirkara. Caruana Galizia was blown up when a car bomb placed beneath her vehicle was detonated as she drove away from her home in Bidnija. 

The jury found Degiorgio and Vella guilty of murdering Carmel Chircop, and Adrian Agius guilty of commissioning the killing. Robert Agius was acquitted on the Chircop-related charge.

Vella and Robert Agius were convicted in relation to the murder of Caruana Galizia, as was Degiorgio in a separate trial.   

They all filed an appeal against those convictions, raising several complex legal arguments that ranged from concerns about pre-trial publicity and juror misconduct to questioning the credibility of Vincent Muscat il-Koħħu, the state’s star witness in the case.

The defendants also objected to the life sentences imposed on them, arguing that they were excessive given that they were convicted as accomplices to murder. 

On Wednesday, a court of appeal, presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Mr Justice Doreen Clarke, and Madam Justice Josette Demicoli, dismissed those objections and upheld the original lifetime prison sentences for all four accused men. 

Sentencing the men to life in prison was neither excessive nor disproportionate given the gravity of the crimes they took part in, the court ruled. 

What defendants based their appeal on

In their appeal, the defendants argued that their defence was prejudiced from the outset due to intense media coverage concerning the cases and further vitiated when a reserve juror was caught with a tablet that they used to browse news sites and ChatGPT.

They also raised objections about jurors being shown a 2021 police press conference, despite that press conference having been declared inadmissible as evidence by the superior courts.

Vince Muscat, who agreed to testify in the case in exchange for a pardon for his role in Chircop’s murder and a 15-year jail sentence for having helped place the bomb used to murder Caruana Galizia, was also targeted for criticism by the defendants.

Muscat was not a credible witness, they argued, noting how he had repeatedly said “I don’t remember” in response to questions made to him under cross-examination.

The defendants also argued that statements made by one of the defendants, George Degiorgio, after the trial, constitute new evidence that should be taken into account.

How the court of appeal ruled

In a judgment over 200 pages long, the court of appeal rejected all those grounds of appeal.

High-profile cases in democracies inevitably drew extensive media coverage, the court said, and jurors had been given clear and repeated instructions to base their decisions solely on evidence heard in the courtroom.

The juror caught with a tablet was immediately disqualified, and a court expert confirmed that no case-specific discussions occurred. Defendants had also agreed to proceed with the trial at the time, the court noted: they could not now claim the incident prejudiced the entire trial.

The court also noted that the press conference shown in court was struck off from the record and jurors were given specific instructions to disregard it entirely.

Muscat had remained consistent on the core facts concerning the crimes, and under Maltese law, a jury was entitled to convict based on a single witness if it found them credible, the court noted.

The court also rejected Robert Agius’ push to admit George Degiorgio’s post-trial statements into the record, noting that, given that a separate appeal by Degiorgio remained pending, he was precluded by law from testifying for or against another co-accused in the same case.

Crimes of exceptional gravity had to be treated especially harshly, the court said, and under Maltese law, an accomplice to murder is liable to the same sentence as a perpetrator. The fact that jury verdicts were not unanimous did not preclude the life sentences given to them.

It therefore rejected all the grounds of appeal presented by the defendants, confirmed the jury’s verdict in its entirety and upheld the lifetime prison sentences handed down to all four accused.

The court also confirmed orders for defendants to pay their respective shares of court expenses, totalling several thousand euros.

The prosecution was led by Lawyers Godwin Cini, Danika Vella and Anthony Vella from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia represented Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family, while lawyer Vince Galea represented Carmel Chircop’s family.