A Maltese court has shot down Yorgen Fenech’s request to force Melvin Theuma to testify before Christmas, in what would be the middleman-turned-state-witness’ first court appearance since his suspected suicide attempt.

Fenech launched the request two weeks ago. However, Magistrate Rachel Montebello ruled that it would be up to the experts appointed to determine his mental and physical health to decide when Theuma will be fit to testify.

Theuma was given a conditional pardon last year to reveal all he knows about the murder and other major crimes, a decision taken solely by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Theuma attempted suicide the day before he was due to be cross-examined by Fenech’s defence team in relation to as yet-unplayed recordings he had taken. The content of these recordings is unknown, but they’re believed to relate to allegations that Theuma could have bribed former police commissioner Laurence Cutajar to secure his pardon.

Fenech’s lawyers said last October that Theuma negotiated his pardon for €17,000, using as a go-between Edwin ‘Il-Ġojja’ Brincat, a mutual friend of Theuma and Cutajar.

They claim that tapes show that Brincat told Theuma to refer to Fenech as “the mastermind” and by his first name to the police.

Montebello did issue a ruling in Fenech’s favour – ordering the Attorney General’s Office to provide copies of the data from mobile devices they have acquired against those linked to the investigation.

The case against Fenech, who has been charged with conspiring to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has been put off till 12th January as part of the rinviju process.

As per compilation of evidence law, magistrate Rachel Montebello is obliged to send the case records to the Attorney General after a month of sittings, who in turn has six weeks to decide whether more witnesses should be summoned or whether enough evidence has been presented for a bill of indictment to be issued.

However, the defence also has the right to request the AG to summon witnesses for examination or re-examination, a process colloquially known as “filing 405s”, a reference to the clause in the Criminal Code.

This is a rare move, with defence lawyers tending to prefer holding their cards close to their chest until the compilation of evidence procedure is completed and the prosecution can no longer present new witnesses.

However, Fenech’s lawyers have made use of this right a number of times while the compilation of evidence against their client is ongoing,

Theuma’s health condition is unknown, but Times of Malta reported last August that his voice has recovered and he’s managing to hold entire conversations unaided. However, the Malta Independent reported in November that he hasn’t fully recovered and may be unfit to testify for long periods of time.

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