Court Expert Reveals Schembri’s Phone Was Sealed In “A Lidl Box”
On Friday afternoon, a judge authorised Keith Schembri’s legal representatives to visit the court’s exhibits office and assess the state of the phone at the centre of the legal dispute currently underway.
The ‘missing’ phone was found inside an evidence bag, sealed in the same condition as court appointed expert Martin Bajada had left it when he last extracted data from the device.
The afternoon on site visit to the courts’ strongroom came after a morning hearing where Schembri’s legal team claimed that the crucial piece of evidence in the money laundering accusations against the former chief of staff had been missing for months.
Schemri’s lawyers claimed that their client’s rights were breached as a result of the court’s negligence in safeguarding the phone and raised concerns about potential tampering of evidence.
During the subsequent on-site check in the afternoon in the presence of the court, the parties’ lawyers, the Court Registrar and judicial expert Martin Bajad, the supposedly ‘missing’ phone was discovered within an evidence bag, sealed in almost the exact state in which Bajada had originally left it.
Martin Bajada clarified that upon receiving the iPhone and other electronic devices from the police, he placed all the gadgets (excluding a large desktop computer) into a Lidl box.
Bajada observed that the box had tape wrapped around its entire circumference, a detail he hadn’t added. However, upon removing the tape, he verified that the sheet of paper containing a list of all exhibits, attached to the box with narrow tape, was positioned exactly as he had arranged it initially. Beneath that paper, the ‘stretch and seal’ wrapping, also placed by Bajada, was present.
Following this revelation, the judge lifted the prohibition that had been imposed, allowing handling of the phone until further instructions from the constitutional court. Bajada is now authorized to proceed with the assignment outlined by the Criminal Court.
The case is still ongoing.
What do you make of this?
READ NEXT: Family Of Four-Year-Old Boy With Muscular Dystrophy Plead For Help As Treatment Comes With Hefty $3.2 Million Price Tag
