Yorgen Fenech had consumed so much cocaine that he continued to test positive for the drug a month after his arraignment over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, his lawyers have told a court.
Further claims about the businessman’s drug addiction emerged on Wednesday as Fenech’s defence team make oral submissions on a lengthy list of pre-trial pleas.
Fenech was arrested on board his yacht in November 2019 and is awaiting trial for complicity in the murder of journalist Caruana Galizia.
Police interrogating Fenech for hours on end, over a 10-day stretch leading up to his arraignment on November 30, knew of the businessman’s drug problem, even addressing him directly about the issue, his lawyers argued.
Investigating inspector Kurt Zahra allegedly told Fenech he had a drug problem and officers were also aware he had regularly travelled abroad for rehabilitation.
Lawyer Charles Mercieca said police used interrogation “tools” which bore serious repercussions when the subject of police questioning was in a vulnerable state.
Mercieca claimed that the questioning continued even though Fenech admitted that he was “somewhat confused” at the time and “not alright.”
Shortly after his arrest on November 20 when his yacht was intercepted by AFM officers soon after leaving Portomaso marina, Fenech was unwell, “very agitated” and his doctor recommended hospitalization, after administering a tranquilizer, his lawyers said.
His severe chest pains were attributed to cocaine withdrawal effects and had necessitated an angiogram and surgery, his lawyer said, recalling medical diagnosis.
Such cocaine effects made the person “incoherent” and thus cast doubt upon his police statements which could not be deemed to have been released “voluntarily” and could not be produced in evidence against him.
Upon his admission to jail, urine samples taken the next day and the day after and over the next month still tested positive to cocaine, they said.
Solitary confinement
Between November 30 and January 2, Fenech was placed in solitary confinement, with a bare mattress on the floor, with no access to visits and no contact with anyone, said Mercieca.
And still, the addiction was so strong that the effects of cocaine were detected.
After living a life of luxury, Fenech was cut off completely from the world, ending up in such a bad state that he was considered a danger to himself until the effects of cocaine wore off, argued Mercieca.
“So how can his statement be taken as valid? He was not stable and remained so for a whole month after arrest.”
Madam Justice Edwina Grima asked if the police had asked to have Fenech examined by doctors before releasing statements.
“The lawyers at that time were not conscious of the extent. It’s not recorded on the statements,” Mercieca replied.
He also questioned why a final question normally put to suspects as to whether they answered voluntarily, was not put to Fenech in four of his statements.
In the last one, the investigator simply asked, “you weren’t threatened to release a statement, were you, Mr Fenech? This is a simple formality I must ask.”
The hearing is still ongoing.