Court urged to consider 19-year trial delay in drug case sentencing

A man convicted of drug trafficking after waiting 19 years for his trial has asked a court to take that delay into account when sentencing him.

Gordian Azuogu Ohaegbu was found guilty by a jury last week of conspiring to traffic and deal cocaine, supplying the drug and being in aggravated possession of it.

Addressing the court briefly, the Attorney General noted that other parties involved in the case had pleaded guilty and were handed prison terms ranging from nine to 10 years, along with fines of between €23,000 and €35,000.

The prosecution argued that Ohaegbu should be sentenced along similar lines, pointing to the purity of the drug, 66 per cent, and the fact that he had been found guilty by a jury on three charges.

The defence, however, stressed that, while they respected the court’s verdict, they believed the accused should have been acquitted.  

They argued that, unlike the other parties in the case, Ohaegbu had pleaded not guilty and exercised his right to contest the charges. This, they said, should not result in a harsher sentence than those handed to individuals who admitted guilt at an earlier stage.

Furthermore, the defence highlighted the lengthy delay in proceedings. “Our client has spent almost 20 years waiting for this trial. On the continent, this would have taken him maybe three or four years.”

They added that the accused had not contributed to the delay. Instead, they said, responsibility lay with the authorities. “The Attorney General did not blink an eye, and we had years of doing nothing in this case,” the defence argued.”

The defence also pointed out that, while the offences were serious, they were not “heinous”, and noted that Ohaegbu had maintained a clean record during the 30 years he has lived in Malta.

The court adjourned the case to April 29.

Ohaegbu, a Maltese man of Nigerian origin, was prosecuted after police seized 955g of cocaine from an apartment in St Julian’s and a further 789g from a man who had just arrived in Malta on a flight from London.

The first seizure took place in February 2007, with the second occurring a month later. Police established that, in both cases, the drugs were intended for delivery to Ohaegbu, who was arrested and arraigned in September 2007.

The trial by jury was presided over by Judge Natasha Galea Sciberras.

Lawyers Kevin Valletta and Dejan Darmanin prosecuted on behalf of the Attorney General, while lawyers Veronique Dalli and Edward Gatt assisted the accused.