Yorgen Fenech, a 44-year-old property developer and heir to a hotel empire, is on trial in Malta for complicity in the October 2017 car bombing death of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The journalist had published damaging revelations about senior politicians prior to her death.
Key witness Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who operated as a middleman in the alleged arrangement, provided testimony describing how Fenech asked him to contact known criminals to arrange the killing. Theuma said Fenech initially claimed he wanted to protect his uncle Raymond Fenech, the family business head, from information the journalist was preparing to publish. According to Theuma’s account, the motivation later shifted to protecting Yorgen Fenech himself from revelations. The two men knew each other through shared interests in horseracing and betting, though Theuma characterized the relationship as unequal.
Theuma testified that Fenech agreed to pay €150,000 to three men—brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat—to carry out the killing. The witness said that after Malta’s prime minister called a snap general election, Fenech initially asked him to cancel the attack, instead requesting a €150,000 bet on the prime minister’s re-election. Following the prime minister’s landslide victory in June 2017, Fenech allegedly instructed Theuma to proceed with the murder and provided him with cash for the payment. Theuma described Fenech becoming increasingly impatient as preparations continued, allegedly texting from his boat that he was preparing champagne in anticipation of the killing.
Theuma has been living under witness protection since agreeing to testify in exchange for a pardon. He underwent certification to establish his fitness to give evidence after a previous suicide attempt. During his testimony, he expressed remorse and described the profound impact the case has had on his life, noting he maintains contact with the victim’s sons.
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