A Maltese court heard that businessman Yorgen Fenech, accused of paying hitmen to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, was impatient for the killing and once texted from his boat that he was "preparing champagne" to celebrate. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

Yorgen Fenech, 44, heir to a property empire including several Hilton hotels, is on trial in Malta for complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia, who died in a car bombing in October 2017 after publishing revelations about senior politicians that triggered a snap election.

The key witness, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, who says he acted as middleman between Fenech and three men already convicted of accepting €150,000 (£128,000) to carry out the killing, took the stand on Friday. Theuma, under witness protection after agreeing to testify in return for a pardon, said Fenech told him to contact a known criminal and set up the killing to protect his uncle Raymond Fenech, head of the family business.

"Bring him here, I need him to kill Daphne because she's going to publish information about Uncle Ray," Theuma claimed Fenech told him. Theuma has previously testified that the explanation later changed to prevent revelations about Yorgen himself.

The conversation took place in April 2017. The two were friends, but Theuma told the jury it was not an equal relationship: "He's a lion and I'm a mosquito."

Theuma, who befriended Fenech over horseracing and betting, has given police recordings of conversations with Fenech after the murder. Before testifying, Theuma had to be certified fit, having previously tried to take his own life; in 2020, after securing a pardon, he swallowed acid and slit his throat. He is allowed to testify seated, with his back to Fenech, due to intimidation complaints.

He began by apologizing to the victim's family: "My cross was too much to bear; I can't imagine what theirs was like."

After receiving the order, Theuma went to the docks in Marsa, where the hitmen — brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and associate Vincent Muscat — used a warehouse known as the potato shed. "Alfred got into my taxi and I told him 'I have someone who wants to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia'. He asked if the person could pay, and I said yes, of course."

Theuma said he never told the hitmen who sent him. Fenech agreed to the price but asked to call off the attack after then-prime minister Joseph Muscat called a snap election, instead asking Theuma to place a €150,000 bet on Muscat's re-election.

When Muscat won a landslide in June 2017, Theuma said Fenech rang that night: "He sounded tipsy. He told me to go ahead with the Daphne job. I didn't do anything, he sounded drunk."

Days later, Theuma gave Fenech his winnings — €300,000 minus commission. Nothing more was said about Caruana Galizia. But days later, Fenech gave him an envelope stuffed with cash: "I asked him, 'What's this?' He said: 'It's the €150,000 to have Daphne killed.'"

The hitmen received a €30,000 deposit and began scoping the journalist's movements. Theuma was given a burner phone, which he took to Disneyland on a family holiday; Fenech wanted reassurance he hadn't left Malta without it. The businessman grew impatient: "Yorgen would ask me every few days: 'when will they kill her?' Once, he was on his boat and texted me to say he was preparing champagne in case it happened."

Theuma said Fenech helped plot Caruana Galizia's routine, identifying a cafe and restaurant she frequented. The witness broke down describing learning of her death from TV news: "I was living a normal life, I didn't want for anything. Then I turned on the TV and saw that Daphne was dead. My life ended. When she was killed, my life was blown up."

He also revealed regular text contact with Caruana Galizia's sons, Matthew and Paul: "I was involved in their mother's murder, and they speak to me. They tell me I will feel better after the trial. But I know I won't. The remorse is too great."

Fenech denies charges of complicity in the voluntary homicide of Caruana Galizia. The trial continues.