Maksar trial: Defence challenges Vince Muscat testimony using FBI phone data

Session concludes for today

Mifsud makes a final remark. He tells jurors to keep in mind the possible motives of Vince Muscat.

"From the start, his intention was to secure a pardon. You need to look at the intentions of this man and what he's ready to do to achieve his final aim," he says.

The sitting has now concluded for today. Mifsud will continue with his arguments on Monday. 

Thank you for following today's proceedings with us. We will be back on Monday with our live reporting. 

Nothing wrong with right to silence, lawyer says

Mifsud mentions that the four accused exercised their right to silence, meaning they chose not to deliver a speech to jurors about their case. He tells jurors not to make any inference based on this fact alone. 

“The right to silence is a right. There’s nothing wrong with it, nothing to infer,” he says.

He recalls being a law student and finding out that any person accused of a crime can just sit in the dock without hiring a lawyer and remaining silent for the proceedings. At the end of the day, it's the prosecution that has to prove the case against you. 

Next lawyer tells jurors to set aside any prejudices

Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud is now delivering his arguments in favour of his client, Adrian Agius. 

He first targets the alleged motive in the Carmel Chircop murder. The prosecution has insisted on Agius's debt with Chircop as the motive for the murder.

“You don’t get rid of debt with bullets,” he tells the jurors.

He insists to the jurors not to let any prejudices contaminate their judgement. He mentions certain things that might have cropped up throughout the jury—the Marsa potato shed, revolvers, nicknames—and tells the jurors not to let these things influence their judgement without the proper evidence.

“Let’s make a conscious effort to put aside anything we might have heard before we walked into the courtroom and focus on what was exhibited during the jury. Let these be the tools that will guide your judgement as to whether Adrian Agius is guilty or not.”

Lawyer says there's no evidence incriminating Robert Agius

It sounds like Abela is starting to wrap up his argument. He reminds jurors of what he said at the start, that it is the prosecution's job to prove guilt.

“It’s not my job to tell you where Vince Muscat failed in his testimony. It’s not my job to say Kevin Ellul is involved in some way. However, with these inconsistencies, can we honestly say the prosecution brought a case without reasonable doubt?”

He said 145 witnesses testified throughout this jury. Witnesses from Europol, the FBI and the Netherlands Forensic Institute testified.

“From all these witnesses, there has not been a single fingerprint or trace of DNA incriminating Robert Agius. Not a single phone call or text. No localisation incriminating Robert Agius. Cameras, photos, nothing. Is there even a single witness apart from Vince Muscat who has incriminated Robert Agius?”

Back in session

The sitting has resumed with lawyer Alfred Abela now talking about the bomb that went off in Għargħur and injured Kevin Ellul. He says no proof has been provided to the court that the explosion was not the result of a premature detonation. 

“We have seen no form of proof or traces that the bomb was command-operated. When asked if it could have been victim-operated, the brigadier [court-appointed bomb expert] said it could have been. It could have been command-operated, but it could have been his own. When the bomb exploded, Ellul’s hands were not on the bomb, otherwise he would have suffered injuries to his hands,” he tells jurors.

Abela says there is no concrete proof of anything, but the proof that exists points in the direction that the Għargħur explosion was a premature detonation. 

Break till 4:15pm

The court is taking another short break, after which the lawyer will continue with his defence arguments. 

Police should have taken Brignone seriously, lawyer says

Abela is trying to lend credence to Brignone's testimony. He reads out what she had told police: “I’m not certain of who paid what to who, but about the Maksar brothers, I’m certain we went to their house and switched off our mobiles so that there’s no signal,” she had told police.

The lawyer insists Brignone was clear with what she was uncertain about, but on matters that concerned her directly, she was more lucid. 

Nonetheless, police failed to search the place in Għargħur where Ellul took Brignone to shoot weapons for fun. Abela points out that the accused have claimed that Ellul was toying around with the bomb that exploded and injured him in May 2018.

Lawyer says Ellul's escape plan to Italy more reasonable than police suggest

Abela reads through Brignone's testimony in front of the inquiring magistrate. In this testimony, Brignone recognised Melvin Theuma's name as the possible middleman and then said that Kevin Ellul knew of the bomb plan before it was carried out. Brignone had also told police of an escape plan to Italy, but the police dismissed this. Even when one of the police officers testified in court about this, they said that a person looking to flee the justice system in Malta would go somewhere where Malta has less friendly police relations with. 

“Would it be that strange for him to escape to Sicily but using a different identity? Fake ID cards?” Abela asks the jurors. “Ryan Schembri was found in Ireland!”

Degiorgio brothers kept secret mobile phone in prison

Abela says Brignone's testimony can be considered reliable, it's just that Kevin Ellul was being contradictory with her. Brignone had told the police that Ellul used to tell her that he would ring up the Degiorgio brothers, who were in prison at the time, to check whether his name was cropping up in investigations. According to Abela, even Vince Muscat had revealed that the Degiorgio brothers kept a secret mobile while they were held at prison's Division 5. 

Despite Brignone asking police for protection against Kevin Ellul, fearing that he would harm her in some way, prosecutors had no problem bringing her to testify in court the same day Ellul was supposed to testify, and then leaving the two of them together outside the courtroom. “This isn’t serious,” he says.

Defence turns to Kevin Ellul

The court is back in session. Now, Abela is trying to pin evidence on Kevin Ellul.

He mentions testimony from Melchior Spiteri, a convicted murderer who was in prison at the same time as Robert Agius. Spiteri had told the court that Agius would frequently cry, insisting he was innocent. One day, a certain Brandon Cachia had confided in Spiteri about Kevin Ellul and his alleged involvement in the bombing. Spiteri felt morally compelled to pass this information to Agius. 

Agius eventually passed on this information to the police, who then spoke with Spiteri, Cachia and Nicole Brignone.

He points out that Ellul kept a fake profile, and in a bid to impress Brignone, who he dated for a while, had sent her a link to a bomb. "This is the kind of guy he is," Abela remarks.

Court on break till 2:30pm

The court is taking a two-hour break. We will continue with our live reporting then.

Muscat's shaky testimony on the bomb

Abela continues to poke holes in Muscat's testimony. He points out that all investigating officers told the court that the bomb had a GSM module. However, when Vincent Muscat first spoke to police, he said the bomb had a Nokia phone like his stuck to its side with cable ties. Two days later, in a separate questioning, he said there was no mobile attached. 

When he testified in court months later, he mentioned a small Nokia attached to the bomb. 

‘You can’t rest your judgement on Vince Muscat’

The lawyer is not mincing his words against Vincent Muscat. “You can rest well tonight,” he tells the jurors. “There is no doubt that this man is a liar.”

He suggests that the bomb was picked up from the same Żebbuġ field where Vincent Muscat and some others tested a sniper rifle for the murder. Yet Muscat never mentioned going to Żebbuġ on the night of the murder.

“This is proof that you can’t rest your judgement on him,” he says.

Muscat burner phone never appeared in Santa Venera before murder

Abela walks the jurors through the FBI report, specifically the movements of the burner phones the night before the murder. In his testimony, Muscat said he picked up the bomb from Santa Venera the day before the murder. However, according to the FBI's report, Muscat went to Żebbuġ before going to Bidnija to place the bomb inside Caruana Galizia's car. At no point did Muscat's burner phone register in Santa Venera. The lawyer uses this to argue that Muscat is “lying” in his testimony. If he picked up the bomb from Santa Venera, it would have shown up in the localisation report.

Lawyer refers to FBI report and Vince Muscat testimony

The court went on a short break, but the session is back in action. Abela is continuing with his arguments to the jurors that his client, Robert Agius, is innocent.

He is bringing up the cellular analysis report written by FBI agents and reading out some of Vince Muscat's testimony during the jury. The testimony concerned an attempt by Muscat and the Degiorgios to carry out the murder on Notte Bianca.

Abela refers to the FBI report and the three burner phones identified as colluding with each other on the day of the murder. He is repeating what the prosecution said about the burner phones, and which ones belonged to Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat.

Lawyer asks why police did not investigate Żebbuġ firing area

The lawyer is speculating about the place in Żebbuġ where Vince Muscat and others tested out a sniper rifle they wanted to use to kill Caruana Galizia. When testifying about this, Muscat said they visited a certain ‘Salvu tal-ġbejniet’, but Muscat didn’t know his last name. “He was a gun enthusiast and suggested I try it,” Abela says, quoting Muscat. The lawyer also points out that the SMS module of the bomb was set up in an area in Zebbuġ on 10 January 2017. “If you were the lead investigating officer on Malta’s biggest case, wouldn’t you go visit this place where?” the lawyer asks the jurors. 

Abela accuses Arnaud of having no interest in finding ‘Salvu tal-ġbejniet’ and questioning him about all this. “They wanted to close the case with the Maksar brothers.”

‘He’s untouchable because he’s an informer’

The lawyer is now attacking the police for how the probe was handled. He refers to Nicole Brignone’s testimony and how the police dismissed it outright because she was on drugs when the events were unfolding. She told police that the Degiorgio brothers kept a mobile while they were in prison and that they used to call Kevin Ellul, nicknamed ‘Double 00’. The lawyer says Theuma told police what Fenech had told him: that the Degiorgio brothers were given a mobile phone so that they can make contact with whoever they want. 

Abela is also criticising one of the police inspectors who testified earlier in the proceedings. “When I was a police officer, and I’d have to come to court to testify on a simple traffic accident, I would read the report the night before. This is a double homicide case, and he stood there saying ‘I forgot’.”

Abela is also leaning into the argument that Kevin Ellul was protected by police because he was an informer. He says Ellul was above the law.

‘Maksar brothers scapegoated in Caruana Galizia murder’

The lawyer is arguing that Robert Agius, his client, was used as a scapegoat in the Caruana Galizia case. Referring to Theuma’s testimony again, he says that Johann Cremona (an associate of Fenech’s) had told Theuma that the case would be considered close after the Maksar brothers are arrested. “After Robert Agius was arrested, no one else was arrested in connection to the case. It seems like Cremona knew what he was saying,” Abela says. 

Yorgen Fenech was charged with masterminding the murder in 2019. The Maksar brothers were charged with supplying the bomb in 2021. 

Lawyer: ‘Contradicting testimony makes Vince Muscat unreliable’

Lawyer Alfred Abela is delivering a speech to the jurors, trying to poke holes in Vince Muscat’s testimony. Muscat is the star witness in the case, having already pleaded guilty to his role in the Caruana Galizia murder and being granted a presidential pardon to tell all about the Carmel Chircop murder.

Abela is arguing that Melvin Theuma’s testimony contradicts Muscat’s. Theuma was also given a presidential pardon, but unlike Muscat, it was to tell all about the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder. His pardon led to the arrest of Yorgen Fenech, who police are accusing of masterminding the murder. 

Theuma had told jurors in this case that he never met Robert or Adrian Agius, but he also said that he used to spend a lot of time at the Marsa potato shed. Meanwhile, Vince Muscat told jurors that the brothers used to be at the potato shed all the time. Abela uses this to convince jurors that Muscat’s testimony is unreliable. 

Good morning and welcome to today's live blog. We are back in court to follow proceedings live. The sitting has already started with the defence team making their case in favour of the accused to the jurors deciding on the case.