Two of the three men accused of planting the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia are seeking to block the testimony of ‘middleman’ Melvin Theuma, initially scheduled to take place on Friday.
They filed an urgent application in court minutes before the scheduled hearing, which was postponed early on Friday. Sources said the original court sitting was postponed on the request of the police.
The judicial act attempting to block the testimony was meanwhile filed by George and Alfred Degiorgio before the Criminal Court. This court had upheld a request by the Attorney General to allow the “new witness” to testify in the murder compilation.
The records of the case had already been transferred to the Criminal Court, presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, which was at the stage of hearing preliminary pleas to the bill of indictment, ahead of the actual trial.
Yet, recent revelations surrounding the journalist’s murder had prompted the prosecution to seek authorisation to produce the “new witness.”
New facts emerging on November 14, almost four months after the filing of the bill of indictment, allegedly pointed investigators in the direction of Mr Theuma as the middleman between the suspect mastermind and the executioners.
In an application filed on Wednesday, the AG said that since Mr Theuma’s identity had not been known before the issuing of bill of indictment, and since his testimony was relevant to the case, the prosecution was seeking permission to produce his testimony as fresh evidence.
Mr Theuma, having recently benefited from a presidential pardon, had told prosecutors that he was willing to spill the beans and tell the whole truth on all he knew about the assassination.
Yet, after the AG’s request had been upheld by the Criminal Court and after Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, who had presided over the compilation of evidence, had set the hearing for Friday morning, the Degiorgios’ lawyer, William Cuschieri, filed an urgent application to block that testimony.
This application, backed by copies of local media reports, pointed to extensive coverage on the recent events surrounding the assassination probe, which appeared to contradict the AG’s claim.
Indeed, the AG had known about “this person [Theuma] over a year before the conclusion of the compilation and yet had not summoned him as witness,” Dr Cuschieri argued, making further reference to reports claiming that 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, had not only been in touch with Mr Theuma but, moreover, his phone had been tapped for the last 15 months.
The fact that the AG had known of Mr Theuma before the issuing of the bill of indictment could further be proved through the testimony of the Head Security Services, Vincent Muscat’s wife, as well as others, the application read.
For this reason, the order delivered last Wednesday by the Criminal Court, green lighting Mr Theuma’s testimony in the murder compilation, was to be revoked.