The aunt of Yorgen Fenech - the man charged with complicity in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia - told court on Friday she was willing to act as a guarantor if he was granted bail.
“I believe in him and I believe he is not capable of hurting anyone," she said from the witness stand.
Monica Fenech, the sister of Yorgen's father, said she owned a 30% shareholding in the Tumas Group.
She told Madame Justice Edwina Grima she was willing to act as a guarantor for her nephew if he was granted bail, adding she was aware that this could mean pledging a considerable amount of money or assets.
Yorgen Fenech, a former businessman, is awaiting trial for alleged complicity in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and has been held in custody ever since his arrest in late 2019.
He is pleading not guilty to criminal charges.
Last month Fenech made a fresh bid for bail, arguing he must be freed because more than 30 months have passed since a bill of indictment against him was issued.
He is making his argument for bail during the pre-trial hearing during which any legal hiccups are ironed out between the defence and the prosecution ahead of the trial stage.
On taking the stand during the bail submissions, his aunt said: “I am here because I believe in his innocence and I believe that he does not belong here… I am willing to guarantee anything needed because I believe in him. I know he will not do anything to harm me”.
When replying to questions she said that, if granted bail, her nephew could reside in the house situated across the road from her home.
Her sister used to live there but she passed away seven months ago. She said the property was registered under the name of the company and not her personal name. She was then asked if she had personal assets.
The judge ordered everyone out of the courtroom to hear her replies to the private information behind closed doors.
When the public was allowed back into the courtroom, the judge handed down a ruling in which she ordered photographic evidence, including plans, of the residence where he would live if granted bail.
She also requested a copy of Monica Fenech’s bank statement and deferred further submissions on bail to the next sitting.
During the next sitting, the judge will also be addressing a request by the defence to include more witnesses to take the stand during the trial.
The court ban
On Friday Inspector Elton Buckingham also took the stand.
He said he was handling reports of any breaches of the court ban on any public comments and discussions about Caruana Galizia’s murder case and Fenech.
Factual court reports are exempt from the ban.
He said he had received two reports.
One concerned a September 24 article by Malta Today reporting the constitutional court case initiated by blogger Manuel Delia challenging the court ban.
The police were awaiting direction from superiors, including Superintendent Anne Marie Xuereb, he said.
Another report was about podcasts hosted in the US. Police had contacted the American authorities and were awaiting feedback.
As the defence and prosecution bickered over where the line should be drawn, the judge said: “The court made this order to ensure justice, and not to give an advantage to one side or the other. If that order is breached there will not be justice".
"If this continues, then all court hearings would have to be behind closed doors.
"The public deserves to know what is happening in here, but the accused also deserves to have a fair hearing and we all know what happened in the past when an accused claimed he was not given a fair hearing.”
Superintendent Anne Marie Xuereb will testify in the next sitting scheduled for January 15.
AG lawyers Anthony Vella, Godwin Cini and Danika Vella prosecuted.
Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri are defence counsel.
Lawyers Andrew Borg Cardona and Jason Azzopardi appeared parte civile.