A reserve juror was fined €1,000 after being found in contempt of court when he sent messages to his son about the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial.
The reserve juror was disqualified from jury duty on Thursday, after he was caught with a tablet, on Wednesday evening, in breach of strict court rules.
The tablet had been used extensively to conduct over 3,000 online searches between April 24 and 30, the period in which the trial concerning the alleged bomb makers began.
Court-appointed expert Martin Bajada said that, in one of the messages sent via Facebook messenger, the reserve juror had discussed the type of jury – one involving “two homicides, of certain importance” – and asked his son to “check the news”. The most worrying part was that he told his son that he took in his tablet and asked him not to tell anyone except the juror’s wife, Bajada said.
Jurors and reserve jurors are prohibited from using electronic devices and can only communicate with family in the presence of court staff, in order to protect the integrity of the trial process.
The reserve juror was not one of the nine jurors who will be deciding on the outcome of the verdict. Reserve jurors are chosen in case someone from the main jury falls ill or needs to be replaced. He was one of the six reserve jurors selected for the trial of Robert and Adrian Agius (known as Ta’ Maksar), Jamie Vella, and George Degiorgio.
Two of the accused are alleged to have supplied the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia in 2017. All four men also stand charged with involvement in the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. The trial is presided by Madam Justice Edwina Grima.
A hidden tablet
The issue came to light when the man’s wife contacted the court, saying: “Mr, my husband has a tablet in his possession and is trying to communicate with me. I do not want any trouble.”
Deputy registrar Joyce Agius told the court on Thursday that she spoke to the reserve juror in question after dinner. He immediately admitted to having the device and showed officials where he kept it, beneath the last drawer in the chest of drawers in his room.
The man allegedly told them that he sent messages to his wife and son, informing them about the clothes he needed and instructing his son to clean the backyard and take care of the plants in the garden.
Bajada was appointed to review how the tablet was used. On Thursday, he said the reserve juror accessed multiple news websites, including Times of Malta, including an article on April 27 containing the words “jury trial” in the headline. The juror had also browsed Newsbook on April 24, the day the trial opened, and accessed Net News.
He had downloaded a guide to jury duty from the student publication Third Eye and accessed a page from MaltaPost. While no evidence of direct communication about the trial has yet been presented, Bajada told the court he would need more time to determine whether the reserve juror had used the device to send messages or make contact via social media or other apps.
The revelation led to the suspension of the trial until Friday morning, when Bajada was tasked with presenting a full report.
On Friday morning, Bajada revealed there were four messages that concerned the jury sent to the son. He said the reserve juror even ordered a gift during the jury, and was tracking it.
Apart from news websites, the expert said, the reserve juror entered “other sites but I do not feel the need to divulge.”
The judge asked if the juror commented on any media comment sections and the expert said this was not the case.
The defence declared it would not ask for the jury to be dissolved and had no objection to the jury moving ahead. However, it requested the criminal court to take all the necessary safeguards to ensure the judicial process would not be tainted in any way. The court fined the juror after finding him in contempt of court.
