Yorgen Fenech murder trial faces potential dissolution over juror media access

The murder trial of Yorgen Fenech faces potential dissolution following a defense request to discharge the jury. The application stems from concerns that jurors were able to access hundreds of media headlines via tablets provided by the court during their sequestration.

An IT expert, Martin Bajada, identified 489 headlines over a nine-day period that were accessible on the devices. While Bajada noted there was no direct evidence that jurors actually viewed every headline, defense lawyer Charles Mercieca argued that the ability to access such material, including opinion pieces and reports on political figures and the Caruana Galizia murder, fundamentally undermines the purpose of jury isolation.

The prosecution has formally objected to the request, arguing that the defense should have raised the issue earlier. They contended that the identified headlines often reflected events already presented in court and that the defense's interpretation of the IT report was flawed, as it only established what could have been accessed rather than what was actually viewed. Judge Edwina Grima is expected to rule on the matter following the conclusion of legal submissions.