The murder trial of Yorgen Fenech took another dramatic turn as former chief of staff Keith Schembri told jurors about an emotional private conversation in which, he testified, Fenech indirectly led him to believe he had been involved in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.The testimony came after two tense days in court marked by repeated objections from the defence, heated exchanges and warnings from the bench. The judge cautioned that continued disruption could even lead to the jury being dissolved.At the centre of Schembri’s testimony was a secretly recorded conversation between Fenech and middleman Melvin Theuma, in which Fenech allegedly said: “When I told him, he froze.”Asked about the remark, Schembri said it referred to a private conversation between the two.Keith Schembri says Fenech had not told him outright at first, but had eventually started indicating things to him. “At that point, yes, I froze,” Schembri says.However, when asked what Fenech had actually said, Schembri said he could not remember the exact words, only that they had been alone and he was left shocked.After the defence objected to prosecutors saying Fenech had “told” Schembri he was involved, the judge asked the witness to clarify.“He led me to believe he was involved,” Schembri replied, stopping short of saying Fenech had made an explicit confession.Schembri said he hugged Fenech after the conversation and recalled that both men cried. “What could I have done?” he told jurors.He also admitted it had been “a major mistake” not to inform then prime minister Joseph Muscat about what Fenech had indicated or to step aside from his role.Schembri insisted he still believes that, if Fenech was involved, he did not act alone.In another striking moment, Schembri described Fenech as having “a heart of gold” and questioned why, after his arrest, he had not told police he was allegedly under the influence of drugs, suggesting that could have opened other investigative avenues.Schembri repeatedly maintained that Fenech never explicitly admitted responsibility, but instead “led him to believe” he had been involved in the murder.•