Man cleared of involvement in heroin importation case

One of four men charged in connection with the importation of seven kilogrammes of heroin in summer was yesterday cleared of his involvement after a magistrate ruled there were no sufficient reasons for his indictment.

Magistrate Anthony Vella cleared Joseph Lebrun on grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove his involvement to the level required by law for two main reasons.

First, the prosecution had not drawn a link between Mr Lebrun and the mobile telephone line which had been investigated and conversations recorded, leading to the drug find.

Secondly, the prosecution had not sufficiently proven that the voice heard in the recordings belonged to Mr Lebrun.

Magistrate Vella gave the ruling following 11 court sittings during which the prosecution produced evidence in the compilation of evidence against Mr Lebrun, 48, of Marsascala.

He was pleading not guilty to charges of conspiring to deal in heroin, and importing and trafficking in the drug on and before June 6.

Mr Lebrun was the fourth man to be charged in connection with the drug find. The other three were Silvio Buttigieg, 32, of Cospicua; Angelus Vella, 52, of Cospicua and Jason Said, 32, of Fgura.

In the judgment Magistrate Vella ruled that, at this stage, it was his duty to rule on whether there was sufficient evidence to prove that Mr Lebrun was involved in the case and, therefore, whether he was to be indicted.

The prosecution claimed that evidence pointed at Mr Lebrun's involvement, that he was involved in negotiations to import the drugs into Malta and that he had carried the drugs in his power boat.

This, the prosecution maintained, resulted clearly from the recording of telephone conversations which they exhibited in court as evidence.

On examining the evidence the magistrate ruled it had not been proven that the voice labelled as Mr Lebrun's (in the transcripts of the recordings) was in fact his.

The prosecution had also failed to draw a link between the mobile phone line investigated and Mr Lebrun. Moreover, the exhibited CD containing the recordings was not an original and had been edited.

The magistrate was also concerned about the fact that a court expert had testified that a part of the recording exhibited contained more speakers and more words than indicated in the corresponding transcript. Besides, the voice labelled as belonging to Mr Lebrun in a part of the transcript was different to the voice attributed to him in another part.

The magistrate ruled that he appreciated that this was no easy task faced by the prosecution and praised the investigation that led to the drug find. But in his opinion the prosecution had failed to prove Mr Lebrun's involvement to the level required by law.

Police Inspectors Norbert Ciappara and Dennis Theuma prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono, José Herrera and Joseph Giglio appeared for Mr Lebrun.