Degiorgio brothers in attempt to block middleman testimony

An urgent court application has been filed this morning by two of the men accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, in an effort to block the testimony of alleged middleman Melvin Theuma.

Theuma was due to testify today.

George and Alfred Degiorgio filed the judicial act before the Criminal Court after it had upheld a request by the Attorney General to allow Theuma to testify in the murder case as a new witness.

Recent revelations regarding the murder had prompted the prosecution to seek authorization to produce the “new witness.”

The Criminal Court presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, is already preliminary pleas to the bill of indictment, ahead of the trial proper.

New facts emerging on November 14, almost four months after the filing of the bill of indictment, had allegedly pointed investigators in the direction of Melvin Theuma as the ‘middleman’ between the suspect mastermind and the executioners.

In an application filed on Wednesday, the Attorney General said that since Theuma’s identity had not been known before the issuing of the bill of indictment and since his testimony was relevant to the case, the prosecution was seeking permission to produce his testimony as fresh evidence.

Melvin Theuma, having recently benefited from a presidential pardon, had told prosecutors that he was willing to tell the authorities all he knew about the assassination.

But, 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, made reference to media coverage of the recent developments in the assassination probe, which the lawyer said contradicted the AG’s claim.

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,” Cuschieri said, also referring to claims that 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, had been in touch with Theuma and that his phone had been tapped for the last 15 months.

The AG’s knowledge about Theuma before the bill of indictment had been issued could further be proved through the testimony of the Head Security Services, Vincent Muscat’s wife, as well as others, according to Cuschieri’s application.

Therefore, the application says, the order delivered by the Criminal Court last Wednesday, allowing Theuma’s testimony in the murder compilation, must be revoked.