Close-protection officer who stayed in Theuma’s home removed on lawyers’ request

The Maltese police said they had removed a third officer who provided close-protection security to Melvin Theuma inside his house, on request of Theuma’s lawyers.

MaltaToday is so far not informed when this request was made, but Commissioner of Police Angelo Gafà said at a press conference that Theuma had complained about his privacy at home. “Theuma was not under arrest so we had to respect his privacy,” Gafà said told the press. “You have to reach a balance between his security and his privacy.”

But with Theuma’s recent testimony in court about his life “finishing” with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death possibly indicating some form of psychological stress, Commissioner Gafà claimed with the press that police had no indications that Theuma had suicidal tendencies. Yet no statements have been made as to whether Theuma had a psychiatric assessment during the time he was testifying in court against a criminal conspiracy.

Theuma’s home in Swieqi was guarded by two other police officers stationed outside his front door on Triq is-Sirk, and inside the basement garage on the back of his apartment building.

The police has insisted that Theuma, now under stable condition after an attempted suicide, had told inspector Keith Arnaud and parademics he had stabbed himself in the neck and thorax.

The incident happened on the eve of an important court sitting in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind in the Caruana Galizia assassination.

Theuma was found at his Swieqi home on Triq is-Sirk with a knife in his right hand and multiple injuries below the kidneys, neck and a wrist. Gafà said some of the injuries were deep. Gafà said there were no so-called ‘defensive wounds’ and the blood splatter was also indicative of self-injury. “There were no reports of struggle and no one heard any commotion,” Gafà said.

Questions as to whether Theuma felt compelled or pressured to kill himself are being asked after Fenech’s defence were preparing tp question him in court about recordings that suggest that former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar could have taken a bribe of €30,000 to push for a pardon for Theuma.

“Who was to gain most from Melvyn Theuma’s suicide? Did he decide to commit suicide, or could there also be the possibility that he was pressured to do it?” civil society NGO Repubblika asked.

Repubblika said the case raised the question of what security was being provided for the judges, lawyers, police, witnesses on the case.

“Shouldn’t they be entitled to the sort of escort provided to key people in anti-mafia trials, given the national importance of what is being revealed?

“Despite Police Commissioner Gafà’s explanation that Europol itself does not want to proceed to a Joint Investigative team, we maintain that the corruption allegations emerging from the testimonies go well beyond national interest, and so our plea for a joint investigative team remains. Moreover, could there not be collaboration with a single country, such as asking for help from Italian expert anti-mafia investigators, given the mafia-like deals that are slowly emerging?”