Yorgen Fenech's mother has told a court she did not help blogger Simon Mercieca, saying that all she wrote in her family’s defence was a solitary post which the academic published on his blog.

Patricia Fenech appeared in court on Wednesday as part of Merceica's libel case against author and publisher Mark Camilleri for an article he wrote alleging that Mercieca received payments from her in favour of her son.

She told a court on Wednesday: “All I did was that post on his blog. Nothing else. It was useless." 

Fenech is awaiting trial for alleged complicity on the the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galzia. He denies the charges. 

In 2021, Mercieca published a letter from Patricia Fenech, in which she defended her son from "mud-throwing".

She explained how she first got to know Mercieca in 2020, after her son’s 2019 arrest when the University academic contacted her via message to carry out "research on Paola" because her paternal grandfather came from the locality. 

Met four times

Time went by and he once messaged to say that his wife and mother-in-law knew Fenech’s aunt.

After that, Fenech met Mercieca’s family on four occasions. 

The Merciecas invited her to their home for lunch some time around Christmas 2020. She went there, bearing a Christmas gift “some panettone as everyone else does" and met Mercieca’s wife and two daughters.

Another time, she invited the family over to her home for coffee and biscuits and she also invited them out for a meal “to reciprocate” their Christmas invite, adding that she was not “very good at home cooking.”

The fourth meeting was when the Merciecas were spending a day by the pool at a St Julian’s hotel. 

“They asked me to join for a coffee..I didn’t stay long because of the sun. Just stayed for some 20 minutes.”

As questions zoomed on the topics of conversation she had with Mercieca, Fenech said that it was later that she learnt through Facebook that he was writing “something about my son.” 

“I liked that because at the time there was a whole campaign against him. If [his] were not all in favour, at least they were slightly [kienu jxaqilbu naqra ghall-anqas]," she said. 

'This one is good'

She would occasionally comment about some post.

“This one is good,” she would message him. 

Then one day, around 2020, she decided to write a post “not about my son but my husband who was dead and could not defend himself.” 

She asked Mercieca if he could publish her post on his blog. 

“He said ‘go ahead.’”

But that was as far as she went. 

She would read Mercieca’s posts much like she did others elsewhere.

Following her son’s arrest, she “read from morning till night.”

Asked whether she sought any action, she replied “none.” 

She would occasionally greet Mercieca on Messenger, say “good morning” and send regards to his wife. 

Then she would comment, “I read that post. But that’s all.”

She denied that Mercieca was ever present during meetings with her son’s lawyers. 

“There were only lawyers and I. No third party.” 

Messages to her son

Shown a copy of WhatsApp chats between her and Yorgen, the witness said that that conversation dated to 2019, “long before [she] met Mercieca.” 

The gist of that conversation went as follows: “Either you do it or I will. No one can stop me,” she texted her son.

Faced with that chat, Fenech said that that message referred to the post she later published on Mercieca’s blog in August 2021.

She also explained a reference to “Franco and Simon” as a reference to her other son, Franco and his friend Simon.

“That was no reference whatsoever to Profs Mercieca,” she said. 

In another message she told her son “either I go to Saviour [Balzan] …are we always going to remain silent…”

Around that time, there were “many rumours. I’m his [Yorgen’s] mum. 

“I never did go to Saviour Balzan even though I knew him very, very well. He was my sons’ teacher at St Edward’s. I went to him on so many parents days . But I never went to him.” 

'I lost courage'

Asked about the impact of press reports about her son, Fenech said that “in general almost all were against.”

She felt “very bad.” 

But when she saw her son “entering there [prison], I lost courage.”

“I had no more courage. None.” 

“I did not even rebut to your client. Never even though he’s been breaking me down. I never took any other action,” she told Camilleri’s lawyers. 

Asked directly by Magistrate Rachel Montebello whether she ever assisted Mercieca in writing his posts, Fenech replied, “Help him? I don't know how I helped him. If I said something by way of making a statement.” 

Today, the two hardly chatted on Messenger and had never personally met since 2021.

When she received the court summons to appear as witness, she had messaged Mercieca. 

But that was all.

She got to know about the libel through Camilleri’s blog. 

“Because my name is popular on his blog. But as far as this case goes, I knew why I was summoned. I didn’t need to ask Profs Mercieca.” 

Following her testimony, Camilleri’s lawyers stated that they had no further evidence to produce. 

Mercieca’s lawyer is expected to cross examine Camilleri at the next sitting. 

Both Mercieca and Camilleri were present on Wednesday, seated opposite each other across the courtroom.

Lawyer William Cuschieri is assisting Mercieca.Lawyers Joseph Mizzi and David Bonello are assisting Camilleri.