A libel case filed by former prime minister Joseph Muscat, over allegations that he “blew up” Daphne Caruana Galizia, has still to take off since the lawyer sued has not yet been served notice of summons. 

A first hearing of the defamation suit had been originally scheduled in June. The case had to be put off until Monday (today) after the court was informed that the respondent, Christian Grima, had not yet been served notice of summons. 

On Monday morning neither of the parties were in court when Muscat’s lawyer, Pawlu Lia, informed presiding Magistrate Rachel Montebello that court officials had still not succeeded in serving notice of summons upon Grima.

A first failed attempt at the lawyer’s Valletta address had been followed up by a second attempt at his St Julian’s address. The outcome of that latest attempt was still pending, the court was informed. 

In light of this information, the case was deferred to October.

The proceedings had been announced by Muscat via a Facebook post in which the former prime minister said that while he did not “believe in libel suits”, Grima had crossed the line with his comment. 

In a post published on May 2, Grima had reacted to a video clip of Muscat’s wife Michelle.

In the clip, Michelle Muscat said that she felt sorrier about “what happened to her” than the journalist’s own family, because she would now “have to live with her [Daphne’s] lies.”

Grima promptly reacted, “Your husband blew her up, Michelle. That’s what happened to her,” sparking the legal action by the former prime minister.

Eight days later, Muscat announced his libel suit, rebutting the lawyer’s claim as “totally false.”

Grima in turn reacted by saying that he would face Muscat in court.