Statistician Marmarà Denies Jury Targeting in Yorgen Fenech Trial Survey
Vincent Marmarà has flatly denied that a survey conducted ahead of Yorgen Fenech's trial deliberately targeted potential jurors, calling the claim "a lie".
Marmarà rejects juror-targeting claims as "a lie"
Statistician Vincent Marmarà has flatly denied that a survey conducted ahead of Yorgen Fenech's trial was designed to target potential jurors, according to Lovin Malta. In a statement, Marmarà said several "incorrect statements" had been made about him in recent hours that he would not leave unanswered.
"It was said that the survey targeted people who were on the list of jurors for 2026. This is a lie," Marmarà said.
He argued that had such targeting been established, the relevant authorities would have taken action — and added that those same authorities had since verified his account.
Marmarà explained that the telephone numbers used in the survey were generated randomly by software programmed to produce eight-digit numbers matching the format of Maltese landline and mobile numbers. The process was, he said, sufficiently random that a significant portion of the generated numbers did not correspond to any active phone line. Participation, he stressed, was entirely voluntary for anyone who was contacted.
He also noted that his research is never structured to identify individual respondents, with all data delivered to clients in aggregated form only.
In a separate rebuttal, Marmarà dismissed allegations that he had used another person's or company's name when approaching survey respondents, calling that claim equally false. "I never use the names of other individuals or other people's companies," he said, adding that research of this kind into criminal proceedings is standard practice internationally.
The statistician acknowledged that a court secrecy order limits what he can publicly disclose, but confirmed that approximately three months ago he handed over all information requested by the authorities.
"Research has no faces. This is my profession, which I offer to everyone, built on independence, objectivity, ethics and the scientific method," Marmarà said.
He closed by recognising the public's right to comment on events, whilst calling on people to "limit themselves to the facts" when doing so.
Source: Lovin Malta