The wife of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, who was killed along with his son, believes her brother who is accused of their murder wanted to kill her too.

Testifying, Mona Camilleri said that on July 17, the day her husband and son were killed, her brother, Jason Galea, had tried to coax her out from behind a locked front gate at her house.

He claimed her husband and son had been involved in the beating of policeman and needed help to escape.

Mr Galea, 39, of Birżebbuġa, told her to hand over all her gold and money so he could secure their escape and wanted her to accompany him to a room in a field where they were hiding, she said.

Her brother had turned up at the house hours after Mario Camilleri and her son, 21-year-old Mario Jr, went with him – supposedly to speak to a notary about their house. Mr Galea and another man, George Galea, 41, of St Julian’s, are pleading not guilty to the murders.

The father and son were killed minutes apart with Mr Camilleri Sr, also known as l-Imnieħru, meeting his end in Marsaxlokk while his son was stabbed 34 times shortly after. They were buried in a field in Qajjenza, Birżebbuġa.

At one point during her testimony, Mr Galea shouted at his sister, calling her a “liar, liar”, before telling her to “tell everyone whom you had to meet that night”.

She quickly responded with a vulgar outburst.

“Every breath he takes is a lie,” she said later.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona warned Mr Galea that, if he uttered another word, he would be kept out of proceedings for the rest of the case.

Ms Camilleri said he had tried to lure her husband and son many times to the field where he claimed that a buried treasure consisting of drugs and cash was hidden.

Her husband always refused to go because of a deep-seated mistrust he had of him.

Her brother would often turn up unannounced at the house and when he realised he was getting nowhere with her husband he turned to Mario Jr and began pestering him too, she said.

Recalling the last time she saw them alive, Ms Camilleri said her husband had gone to sign the bail book at the St Julian’s police station and was due to meet her brother Jason at 11.30am.

At 11.15am she received a phone call from her husband who asked her what time he had to meet Jason because he had not heard from him. She told him to give him a call and in response he said he would be returning home because he had bought her a sweet pastry.

Jason met her husband at their house and they left in separate cars to go to a notary to sort something out regarding their house and a warrant of seizure.

Shortly afterwards she received a phone call from her brother who told her to tell her son to wait outside for him because he was going to pick him up.

Her son went to wait in front of the house and became irritated as it was a hot day and he was in the sun, she said. Jason called again and asked if his nephew was waiting, to which she replied he was.

From CCTV cameras installed at her house she saw a car arrive and rushed to the window to see who it was. She recognised the man driving as Leli, who went by the nicknames L-Iscrewn and Id-Deffien (the undertaker).

She could recall hearing her son ask Leli why he was there when it was his uncle Jason who was meant to pick him up.

She called her husband repeatedly for three hours but he failed to respond and, when she finally spoke to Jason, he told her that all hell had broken loose.

He told her that her son had hit a police officer in the head with an axe

He asked her to get her gold and cash ready because he was coming to the house.

Shortly afterwards she saw him on the CCTV cameras at her front gate and went out to speak to him.

He told her that her husband had been followed by a policeman from the Criminal Investigation Department after leaving the notary’s office and her son had hit the officer in the head with an axe.

They were now hiding inside a room in a field and he needed the gold and money to make sure her husband could escape the clutches of the police.

She refused to comply, recalling her husband’s warning that her brother was not to be trusted in any way and to never let him into the house when she was alone, because he would kill her.

Ms Camilleri told the court that, had she gone with him, she too would have been killed. At this point she was told by Police Inspector Chris Pullicino that she could not speculate.

With Jason still behind the gate, she phoned her daughter Kirsten, who turned up a short time later.

Her brother panicked and asked her for €10. She handed him €20 and he left saying the money was for a taxi.

She told him that if the two men did not return soon she would file a police report.

Ms Camilleri said she then received a phone call from her brother’s wife Judith, who told her she could not get hold of her husband. Judith then went over to her house.

They then went to speak to Leli but he denied any knowledge of the men’s whereabouts and also denied picking up Mario Jr, she alleged.

Questioned about what kind of business relationship she had with her brother, she said they owned a cleaning company and that the only reason she went into business with him was because her husband’s notoriety kept customers away.

Her brother never put a cent into the company and it was their money – “huge amounts” of it – that was poured in.

Lawyer Giannella de Marco asked for her client George Galea to be allowed to attend his son’s birthday party as he would be turning two next month.

She said that it was only for three hours and the only family present would be close relatives.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino strongly objected and Dr de Marco said she could draw up a list of the guests and present it to the court.

Magistrate Micallef Trigona said that the decision was ultimately up to the prisons director and not him but told her to draw up the list nonetheless.