Phone Records Enter Scicluna Trial

Mobile phone records showing contact between numbers linked to Lorin Scicluna and Gracey Fenech on the night Lassana Cisse was shot were examined in court as Scicluna’s jury trial continued.

The evidence came from lawyer Steven Farrugia Sacco, who told the court he had prepared two reports for the inquiry using call and SMS data. One call on 6 April 2019 was registered by a cell tower in Fgura at about 10.28pm, the court heard, shortly before emergency services began receiving calls about an injured person at around 11pm.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Kris Busietta, Farrugia Sacco said the same two numbers also connected at 10.08am for four seconds through a Marsaskala tower, and again at 2.28pm for 19 minutes and 45 seconds. Another communication was recorded at 10.35pm.

Asked about a 10.38pm call, the witness said one phone connected to a tower in Marsa and the other to a site identified in court as “Gallarija 3G”. The court also heard that on 7 April a call at 6.45am lasted 19 seconds, followed by five unanswered calls between 6.54am and 1.57pm.

What this material can do is narrower than what a murder trial invites people to assume. Network data can show contact between devices and the towers handling that contact. It can help place a phone within an area. It does not, by itself, prove who was holding it or place a person at the exact scene in Birżebbuġa where Cisse, an Ivorian migrant, was shot dead.

That distinction matters because jury trials can accumulate atmosphere faster than proof. The records may be important circumstantial evidence. They are not a substitute for direct evidence of the shooting.

Newsbook reported that jurors had also been shown photographs of the scene and of Cisse’s injuries, including the fatal head wound and injuries to his hands. Scicluna wept while the images were displayed and was briefly led from the courtroom.

The court also heard evidence about material recovered from the phone of co-accused Francesco Fenech, who is facing separate proceedings. According to Newsbook, that included far-right content and a photograph of Fenech next to a vehicle bearing what was described in court as a Nazi symbol sticker.

Scicluna faces nine charges, including the murder of Cisse on 6 April 2019 and the attempted murder of Mohammed Jalloh, Ibrahim Bah and May Malimi. He denies the charges. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.