State witness Melvin Theuma’s first testimony in months commenced with a strange line of questioning from a lawyer defending one of the suspected hitmen in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination.

Marc Sant, the defence lawyer of Vince Muscat, asked the murder middleman whether he ever had a sexual relationship with Edwin ‘Il-Ġojja’ Brincat, who is suspected of acting as a middleman between Theuma and former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. 

Theuma denied this, Times of Malta reported from court, describing Brincat as a “father figure”. 

Last year, it was revealed that Theuma had recorded a conversation with Johann Cremona, a business associate of murder suspect Yorgen Fenech. In the conversation, Theuma said he had passed on around €15,000 to Brincat to give to Cutajar.

Fenech’s lawyers have portrayed this as a bribe to the then police commissioner in return for a presidential pardon.

During today’s sitting, Theuma was also questioned about his relationship with Charlene Bianco Farrugia, the personal secretary of former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.

He said he had once driven murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and Bianco Farrugia to the airport and assumed the two of them were “partners”.

“Whenever I needed something, about property for instance, I would tell Yorgen Fenech who would tell me that he would call Keith Schembri’s secretary,” Theuma testified. “I once even went to speak to her at Castille about a field.”

Theuma reiterated that, as far as he’s aware, Fenech is the only mastermind behind the journalist’s murder. 

“He was the one who ordered me. I swear under oath. I want to tell the truth,” he said.

Cover photo: Left: Edwin Brincat, Right: Melvin Theuma

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