Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case hits obstacles in first pre-trial sitting

Unexpected obstacles have derailed a first sitting intended to hear preliminary pleas by the men accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, with Vincent Muscat appearing without a lawyer and the lawyer for the Degiorgio brothers coming unprepared to make submissions today.

Security was extraordinarily tight both inside and outside the courtroom. Heavily armed prison guards manned the doors and stood watch in the courtroom, which was packed with members of the public.

Instead, today’s sitting before Madam Justice Edwina Grima ended up being used by lawyers for the Attorney General and defence to thrash out a roadmap for the hearing of the case against the alleged killers.

Vincent Muscat denounced his former lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi, in court this morning for allegedly not informing him that he was going to drop his brief. It was MaltaToday that reported the lawyer's decision to renounce the brief.

In comments to the MaltaToday after the sitting, Azzopardi strongly denied the allegation, saying that he had informed both Muscat and his family, both over the phone and in person of the decision.

READ ALSO: Lawyer to Caruana Galizia murder suspect Vince Muscat renounces brief

Muscat, who was in a preliminary sitting before the Criminal Court with fellow accused George and Alfred Degiorgio this morning, stood up at one point and told the court that he had not been informed by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi that he would be renouncing his brief and had only found out from the newspapers. He said it “showed a lack of professional ethics.”

Also in for an ear bashing, this time from the judge, was lawyer William Cuschieri, who had arrived at the sitting expecting to only fix dates for future hearings. He told the court that he had not been able to prepare for the sitting because of this. “I had set out sittings months in advance, and you don’t even bring your file?” asked the judge angrily. But deputy AG Philip Galea Farrugia confirmed to the court that he was also under the same impression as his counterpart.

The court pointed out that in its written submissions, the defence had laid out 117 arguments which the court wanted to tackle systematically.

There were so many arguments that the court ordered that each one be tackled by both parties before moving on to the next, and not have all counter-arguments at the end, as normally happens.

The lawyers thrashed out the way forward with the judge, who then gave Muscat till tomorrow week to decide on who would represent him, be it legal aid or a private lawyer.

The Degiorgios also formally informed the court that there were pending constitutional cases, some of which dealt with this sitting.

Cuschieri explained that before the constitutional courts there were several cases dealing with constitutional complaints by the accused, amongst which there is a term underway for the filing of an appeal where George Degiorgio is requesting an interim measure in order to halt these proceedings, pending the result of the case on the merits.
The court said it was aware of this fact.

The court put the case off for 8 November for the reading of the Bill of Indictment. Another sitting was also fixed for the 20th of the same month.

Lawyers William Cuschieri and Benjamin Valenzia appeared for the defence.

Deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and Nadia Attard from the Office of the AG prosecuted.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Karol Aquilina appeared parte civile.