Assuming that Melvin Theuma’s testimony in court on Wednesday Feb 3 2021 is true, why has Keith Schembri not yet been arrested?

This court session was part of the compilation of evidence against the three alleged hitmen. Wednesday was Theuma’s turn to take the stand. Theuma’s testimony was totally against Yorgen Fenech, even though the compilation of evidence concerned the three alleged hitmen accused with having planted the bomb in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s car.

The Times observes that Dr. Marc Sant, the advocate of Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu, knows exactly what recordings he wants to play. The Times of Malta’s reporter highlights the fact that

It should be pointed out that the lawyers of the accused have access to recordings that the police exhibited in court. The problem here is that the police, once again, did not exhibit all the recordings of Melvin Theuma. This is why, I describe this sitting as a rigged mise-en-scène.

In fact, what struck me most is the way how Melvin Theuma was answering the questions. I was particularly impressed by the overconfidence that Theuma was showing in court. This came out from all the media reports about this sitting. It was evident that Melvin Theuma had been groomed and told what to say on each snippet of the recordings heard in court.

Playing these recordings did more harm to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case than good. Why?

To make sure that I am making the right analysis, I have not relied solely on The Times of Malta but I also referred to what Malta Today has to say about this sitting. The finishing touch to Theuma’s testimony came at the end and for this reason I will begin this analysis from this point to explain the game that is being played.

Melvin Theum insisted that what he knows about Keith Schembri, he got know from Yorgen Fenech’s mouth. If Yorgen Fenech was lying, Melvin Theuma tells the court, he too is lying. The Italians have an expression for this type of testimony. It is known as ”detto del detto”.

As Melvin Theuma moved towards the conclusion of his testimony, he desperately sought to further exculpate Keith Schembri from any involvement in this murder. He states this after he had referred to a number of selected recordings where the name of Schembri is mentioned. At the end of his testimony,  Theuma tells the court that he cannot confirm under oath whether Keith Schembri is involved or not in the murder. However, based on the testimony he gave, there is enough evidence to place Keith Schembri under arrest.

What I cannot understand here is why neither the parte civile lawyers nor the Caruana Galizia family have put pressure on the police to investigate thoroughly Keith Schembri. If they are sincere about the fact that they are after catching who is behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, they should have been questioning why the police have not arraigned Keith Schembri, as they did to Yorgen Fenech, based on Melvin Theuma’s recordings?

But there is much more to this story than just a simple reference to Keith Schembri, as Theuma wanted to imply in his testimony. In the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, the Whatsapp messages of Yorgen Fenech were produced in court. If Keith Schembri is not involved, as Melvin Theuma is stating, then who is the “K” in Fenech’s Whatsapp messages? One needs to remember that K was brought as a proof by the police that Yorgen Fenech wanted to escape from Malta. I can think of quite a number of important individuals whose name starts with a K.

Thus, the more I hear the more I am convinced that neither Yorgen Fenech nor Keith Schembri are involved or else they are both involved. Melvin Theuma’s testimony leaves much to be desired.

Frankly, even the recordings as presented in court leave much to be desired. They are hand-picked snippets that come across completely out of context and with an interpretation being given by Theuma to accommodate what is known in criminal investigation as the theory of the crime. Therefore, Theuma’s testimony last Wednesday did not shed any significant clue, even remotely, to get us any closer to finding who is really behind Daphne’s assassination.

In philosophy, there is a term to explain the way this investigation is being conducted by the police – this is relativism. All the evidence gathered is being used relatively to justify one purpose: make sure that Yorgen Fenech is found guilty irrespective whether he is innocent or not.