Inmate Erin Tanti, his partner and St James Hospital owner Josie Muscat charged

St James Hospital founder Josie Muscat, Erin Tanti and his partner Marisa Gallo on Monday denied various charges pertaining breaches of embryo protection laws.

Gallo and Muscat were charged with using, transferring or fertilising human germline cells without authorisation in November 2024.

Tanti, who is currently serving a 20-year prison term for the 2014 murder of teenager Lisa Maria Zahra, was charged with the same offence with prosecutors adding that he carried it out while serving a prison sentence.

Muscat was also charged with providing or assisting in a medically assisted reproduction procedure for someone who was not a prospective parent, using unlicensed premises for assisted reproduction, and failing to keep and submit a confidential register of procedures to the authorities.

Before any witnesses were heard, Magistrate Leonard Caruana noted that an application by Anthony Zahra to be admitted as an injured party had been received. Defence lawyers representing the accused parties will be making submissions on the request in due course.

The majority of the sitting pertained to testimony given by police inspector Lydon Zammit, who noted that police had received information from prison authorities in May about a potential breach of the Embryo Protection Act, and namely that an artificial insemination procedure allegedly took place without the authorisation of the Embryo Protection Authority, as necessitated by Chapter 524 of the Laws of Malta.

Inspector Zammit made reference to around “70 to 80” telephone conversations between Tanti and his partner which took place at prison, and in which the subject of artificial insemination was mostly brought up in an indirect manner.

Two medical workers, namely doctor Christopher Cremona and nurse Maria Dolores Spiteri, were also directly mentioned in the calls. It emerged that these individuals helped Tanti in the process, with Spiteri allegedly passing on messages from Tanti’s wife to Cremona. It had been explained to the couple that authorisation would be required for the procedure, Cremona stated.

It further emerged from emails between the Authority and Gallo that the former had never granted the couple authorisation to carry out the procedure.

In view of the information retained by the police, a number of arrests were made, with the police also finding that the procedure had been carried out by Josie Muscat.

Erin Tanti was arrested at prison, cooperating fully with police and giving them notes detailing a timeline of events. He stated that the idea had originated in early 2024, adding that he had spoken to prison director Chris Siegersma and prison welfare commissioner Steve Libreri. Although he claimed that they informed him that he could go ahead with the procedure, Tanti was unable to produce any documents to this effect.

Tanti also confirmed that two artificial insemination attempts had been made, one on 2 November and another on 30 November. He however elected not to respond to questions when brought for questioning for a second time.

Zammit also recalled how Cremona had indicated that whilst he would be ready to assist, there needed to be a medical courier in place.

Gallo had also been arrested in May.

She confirmed her relationship with Tanti, also informing police that she was pregnant at the time of her interrogation. Gallo also referred to her communication with the Embryo Protection Authority but claimed that she was only informed by the latter that they were not eligible for free-of-charge treatment. It emerged that she had selected Muscat to carry out the procedure after sending various emails and going to hospital on a number of occasions.

Upon her arrest, Maria Dolores Spiteri confirmed her involvement but stated that she had acted under the instructions of Doctor Cremona. She also added that she had never directly communicated with Muscat.

It also emerged that Gallo had offered Spiteri money as a token of appreciation for her involvement, with the latter however refusing and insisting that the money should be “kept for the baby”. No transfers of money had taken place, it was confirmed.

Cremona had also been arrested, with inspector Zammit however confirming that both he and Maria Dolores Spiteri would not be facing criminal charges. The reason for this is that the law provides for an exemption from criminal liability if a medical practitioner takes all precautions possible, the inspector explained.

The court also heard that the procedure took place at St James Hospital in Sliema, which, unlike the Żejtun branch, is not licenced for said procedures.

Zammit also explained how the samples had been collected from prison by a man who had carried out various tasks for Muscat over the last eight years. It emerged that Raymond Agius, who was also described to be Muscat’s driver at times, collected the sample upon Muscat’s instructions, but had no idea what he had actually been collecting.

When Muscat was arrested, he did not answer questions, claiming that he could not do so due to the confidential nature of the patient-doctor relationship. He generally described the artificial insemination procedure, however.

Under cross-examination, Zammit noted that this case was the first of its kind under Chapter 524 of the laws of Malta.

The case was adjourned to 9 October at 10am.

Police inspectors Lydon Zammit and Stephen Gulia prosecuted.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Joseph Bugeja and Nicolai Bugeja appeared for Muscat.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Xuereb appeared for Tanti and Gallo.