A man accused of trafficking drugs ten years ago, was handed a suspended sentence after the court noted that the crimes were largely attributable to his drug dependency and that he had since changed his lifestyle. 

Bronwen Bugeja, then 24, was arrested one October evening in 2014 at a Paceville club by police officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit who noticed him slipping his hand into his pocket, and then throwing something on the floor close to the toilets.

He was stopped and searched. 

The item on the floor turned out to be a bag containing several sachets filled with a whitish substance, suspected cocaine and some 15 or 17 blue pills. The youth was also carrying €450 in cash. 

He was arrested and advised as to his legal rights, then accompanied to his home at Ghaxaq where police searches continued. 

Officers found another seven sachets of the white substance in his bedroom, together with electronic weighing scales and more cash. 

The following day, Bugeja was questioned after being once again advised about his legal rights. At the time, he turned down the offer for legal assistance. 

Sell ecstasy and cocaine to sustain addiction

He told police about the substances and other items found in his possession. 

He explained that he had been hooked on drugs for the past year and that “meow meow,” was his personal favourite. He was not familiar with its scientific name, mephedrone. 

Bugeja said that at the time he used to consume five or six sachets of that drug daily and two or three sachets of cocaine at weekends. He used to sell ecstasy and occasionally cocaine to sustain his addiction. 

The weighing scales, which bore traces of cocaine, were borrowed from a friend so that he would not be “cheated,” the suspect further explained. 

But when asked about the person who supplied him with drugs, Bugeja refused to give a name, saying that he was scared of the person. 

As for the cash found in his possession, he explained that some were wages, others were savings put away for work purposes. 

He used to buy 0.4 grams of "meow meow" for €10 and sell it at twice the price. He would also buy 0.5 grams of cocaine for €40 and sell the drug at €50 and ecstasy pills at €4 each to be sold at €10. 

Bugeja was subsequently charged with procurement of cocaine, trafficking ecstasy and "meow meow" and possession of the three drugs under circumstances denoting that they were not for personal use. 

He was also charged with recidivism. He pleaded not guilty. 

Bugeja made 'concrete steps to rehabilitate'

In 2021, his defence lawyers requested the Magistrates’ Court to assume the functions of a Drug Court in terms of the Drug Offenders (Treatment not Imprisonment) Act.

Proceedings were re-assigned to a new magistrate last year.

A scientific expert confirmed that the blue pills were ecstasy and that there were 27 sachets of cocaine weighing in total approximately 9.7 grams.

A psychologist testified that at the time of the incident, the accused was a drug addict. The alleged criminal wrongdoing related to his dependency.

But since then, Bugeja had marked “considerable progress and made concrete steps to rehabilitate.”

A representative from Sedqa testified that the accused had turned to the agency for help when this incident landed him in court. It was that which prompted him to finally seek help. 

Since then, he had followed all instructions, attended all sessions and save for minor relapses, registered a “noteworthy change in his lifestyle.”

When delivering judgment, Magistrates Giannella Camilleri Busuttil, upheld the defence’s plea to declare as inadmissible in evidence the statement released by the then-suspect to the police ten years ago. 

That self-incriminating statement had been released without legal assistance at a time when Maltese law did not provide such a right to suspects at the pre-arraignment stage. 

In light of European caselaw and a line of judgments delivered by Maltese courts, the magistrate declared that statement inadmissible. 

Since that statement was the only evidence put forward by the prosecution to prove the trafficking charges, the accused was cleared in that respect.

The aggravated possession of cocaine and ecstasy was proved beyond reasonable doubt, but the possession of meow meow was not. 

The court appointed scientist had confirmed that the drug found in the accused’s possession was not mephedrone but another psychoactive drug. 

As for the charge of recidivism, the prosecution did not present any judgment to prove the accused’s previous conviction. 

Taking note of the nature of the offences, all circumstances of the case and the accused’s updated criminal record, the court was convinced that the offences were mainly attributable to his drug dependency.

The court also noted that the Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board was satisfied with  Bugeja’s progress and had declared his case “successfully closed.” 

For these reasons the court handed down a 12-month jail term suspended for three years and a €1200 fine. The punishment was not to be registered on his police conduct certificate. 

Court expenses amounting to €1193 were also to be paid by the accused. 

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Adreana Zammit were defence counsel.