Yorgen Fenech and his brother were planning a “legal” getaway involving private jets and even a fishing boat from Malta a week before his eventual arrest in connection with the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Doctor-turned-messenger Adrian Vella confirmed the plan in today’s sitting of the police’s case against Fenech. Lovin Malta had first revealed the existence of a potential plot back in November.

“They were both high that day,” Vella said.

Vella explained that roughly a week or so before Fenech’s arrest, he first called to Fenech’s Portomaso’s late at night. Fenech, he said, was feeling anxious and nervous.

The sitting then abruptly continued behind closed doors, with Vella unwilling to breach patient-doctor confidentiality.

However, once journalists were allowed back in, Vella made reference to narcotics. At one point, Vella said he even feared Fenech, who has been arrested on cocaine charges before, would suffer withdrawals while under arrest.

He said that Fenech’s brother, Franco, was an expert on “what was discussed behind closed doors”. Franco had detailed his own battles with cocaine addiction with Lovin Malta.

Following the meeting at Portomaso, Vella recommended Fenech stay at Vella’s Gozo farmhouse. They drove up immediately, with Fenech refusing to exit the car until they reach the farmhouse. Vella even had to buy Fenech cigarettes because of his condition.

“Before the trip, I had given him some pills. That’s why he slept. He had calmed down,” Vella said.

The next day Franco showed up and discussions erupted whether Fenech would be able to leave Malta legally. Passing through the airport was first brought up, Vella said, before making reference to a potential escape by sea.

Here, Vella grew more and more flustered; first Vella said that he had suggested using a boat of a friend of his, before dismissing it as a bluff.

With the magistrate growing more and more frustrated with Vella’s testimony, he suddenly revealed that he had in fact called up his friend to ask whether the fishing boat could be used.

“So from a private jet you went to a fishing boat? What need was there for a fishing boat if they were travelling legally, especially when Fenech had two boats himself?” the magistrate asked.

Vella was reluctant to divulge the countries where Fenech planned to go, listing Paris, Tunis, or Mexico as potential destinations.

Vella then grew more tense and non-compliant with the magistrate requesting that the rest of the sitting happen behind closed doors.