Robert Agius, one of the men who allegedly supplied the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia had, according to the lead investigator, given the police new information about the murder, Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo said in court on Tuesday.
She was delivering a decree following a request by lawyers representing Robert and Adrian Agius (the Maksar brothers) for recent updates in the Caruana Galizia murder inquiry to be presented as evidence in their case.
The Maksar brothers, along with their alleged associate Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio, one of the alleged hitmen in the Caruana Galizia murder are facing prosecution over their alleged involvement in the murder of the journalist in 2017 and the fatal shooting of lawyer Carmel Chircop in 2015.
In a previous sitting, the lawyers said that once the magisterial inquiry into the Caruana Galizia assassination was still active, recent updates to the inquiry should be produced as evidence by the prosecution in this case.
Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo in her decree on Tuesday said that the court had heard lead investigator superintendent Keith Arnaud testify that Robert Agius had given the police new information about the murder. However the updates requested by the lawyers for the Agius brothers formed part of the inquiry that was still active, and the Criminal Code laid down that no documents from a magisterial inquiry that was still pending could be produced in evidence, until the proces verbal was wrapped up by the inquiring magistrate.
For this reason, the court turned down the lawyers' request and ordered the hearing to proceed.
But before inspector Kurt Zahra stepped onto the witness stand, prosecution lawyers from the Attorney General's office requested his testimony to be heard behind closed doors. Doing so in public could interfere with ongoing investigations, the court was told.
That request sparked an animated reaction by Alfred Abela, one of Agius’ lawyers who insisted that the prosecution ought to explain the perceived risk.
He pointed out that Supt Arnaud had testified that only representatives of telecommunications service providers were still to testify.
“The inquiry is still ongoing,” retorted AG lawyer Francesco Refalo.
Blocking media coverage of such court cases by claiming that inquiries were still ongoing, appeared to have become a frequent occurrence, Abela hit back.
But Magistrate Farrugia Frendo soon cut short the rather vociferous arguments, pointing out that whether proceedings continued behind closed doors or not was a matter for the court to decide.
And in this case, the court upheld the prosecution’s request and ordered all persons not involved in the case to leave the room.
AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Godwin Cini assisted prosecuting Inspector Kurt Zahra.
Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin assisted the Agius brother and Jamie Vella.
Lawyer Ishmael Psaila also assisted Vella.
Lawyer William Cuschieri assisted Degiorgio.
Lawyer Jason Azzopardi appeared parte civile.