A 47-year-old man told jurors yesterday that after feeding a bird he kept, a few seeds fell from the cage onto some soil and a cannabis plant started to grow.

Anthony Seychell of Żejtun is being charged with cultivating cannabis and with possession of the drug in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, presiding over the case, asked Mr Seychell how, if the plant had grown accidently, he knew how to smoke it.

Mr Seychell replied he had learnt about it from television and used the cannabis purely for its medicinal qualities as he suffered from severe back pain.

Taking the witness stand, senior police inspector Norbert Ciappara told jurors that a search at Mr Seychell's home resulted in 110 cannabis plants being confiscated.

In all, the find amounted to three-and-a-half kilos of cannabis leaves.

The investigating officers came across a workshop which contained a canopy equipped with two strong floodlights used to dry the leaves out. On searching the roof of the house more plants were found in a healthy state.

The plants found were in three stages, at shoot level, fully grown and the dried leaves ready to be consumed.

Taking the witness stand, pharmacist and drug expert Mario Mifsud told the court that to reap any therapeutic advantages from the plant, one would have to smoke half a gram of cannabis every four hours.

Mr Seychell claimed that he would smoke anywhere up to five or six reefers a day to relieve himself of the pain. He said the police had handcuffed him and acted as if he was a murderer. "I used it entirely for myself", he said.

When questioned about the fact that he had two motorcycles which was in direct conflict with his testimony that he said he suffered from back ache, he said he was brought up with bikes and that only after he had an operation did he stop using them.

Counsel to the republic lawyer Nadine Sant prosecuted.

Lawyer Tonio Azzopardi appeared for Mr Seychell.