A man who endured a 15-year long court saga only to be cleared of drug trafficking charges and then fined for smoking an occasional joint has won €10,000 in compensation after a judge found the attorney general responsible for unacceptable delays.

The First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction found that although the law does not spell out the reasonable time in which a court process must be concluded, it was evident that 14 years, nine months and 17 days was excessive in such a case. Mr Justice Toni Abela ruled that the attorney general was solely responsible for the delays because of his mishandling of the court deferrals.

The court heard how the police pounced on Christopher Mazzitelli and another four people following a drug squad raid in 2004. He was charged with aggravated possession and trafficking of heroin, cocaine and cannabis resin.

He spent a total of 163 days under house arrest

He was denied bail and spent 20 days in preventive arrest before he was finally granted bail, although he was placed under house arrest, where he was ordered not to leave his home except for medical reasons and to attend court sittings. He spent a total of 163 days under house arrest.

He then had his bail conditions amended and spent another two years and seven months only being able to leave his home between 6.30am and 8pm. This was eventually extended to 10pm and then again until midnight.

Mr Justice Abela noted that the entire court case was spread over 75 sittings but fewer than half were actually used for the hearing of evidence. The rest were either put off because the magistrate was indisposed or for some reason or another, including 12 in which summoned witnesses did not attend.

He also noted how 35 sittings had been wasted and has amounted to a total waste of time, particularly between 2005 and 2009.

The judge remarked how the attorney general had been insisting on a conviction and a jail term for life. However, there was no evidence to secure this conviction. In fact, the magistrate had cleared him of drug trafficking and possession with intent to traffic.

The first court had observed that the prosecution had failed to prove that there existed any drug-trafficking agreement between the accused and third parties or that Mazzitelli had trafficked drugs from the garage where he had been employed.

The judge, therefore, ruled that the attorney general was solely responsible for the delays and the way it used to administer the case from its side so he ordered him to pay Mazzitelli €10,000 by way of compensation.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Maryrose Micallef were counsel to Mazzitelli.