A 23-year-old whose search for cannabis led him into a man's house in Żebbuġ ended up in court when that drug hunt soured into a knife fight.
Polish national Igor Leweski was arraigned on Wednesday, accused of cultivating cannabis plants and simple possession of ecstasy and cannabis hemp.
Officers found the plants discarded in garbage bags at his house in St Paul’s Bay, which they searched after he got into an altercation in Żebbuġ.
The sequence of events that led to that search was an eventful one.
Police Inspector Francesca Calleja told the court that Leweski and two friends were driving from the airport at around 10.30 pm on the evening of March 30 when they headed in the direction of Żebbuġ.
In the village square, they came across a person smoking outside by himself. The group approached and asked whether he could supply them with cannabis. The man said that he could do so at his residence.
At the man’s home in Żebbuġ, Leweski and his friends found another man in a red T-shirt. At that point, the first man demanded money for the cannabis they wanted to buy.
They handed over cash and the man went upstairs.
The man in the red t-shirt then offered the group a smoke of an unknown substance from a plastic bottle, but they refused and asked for their money back.
At that point, one of the group realised that the first man was no longer in the room with them. A commotion broke out as Leweski’s group demanded he come back with their money.
Leweski took it upon himself to go upstairs and look for the man. He found him hiding in the dark, and as they argued he saw that he was holding a knife.
Downstairs, the man in the red t-shirt had also allegedly produced a knife and the arguing escalated into a full-blown fight.
As the altercation grew to attract more attention, police were called to the scene and Leweski and the others were arrested.
Police took Leweski to his home in St Paul’s Bay and searched the residence in his presence. They found nine cannabis plants and other items related to the cultivation of cannabis.
After being given time to consider, Leweski told the court that he pleaded guilty to all of the charges brought against him.
In advising the court on sentencing, the prosecution said that while the weight of the cannabis found in Leweski’s possession appeared to be hefty, police had found nothing to indicate that any of the material had been for anything other than personal use.
The accused had only just started to cultivate the plants and was apparently unsuccessful, as they had failed to produce any buds. So much so, that police had found the plants haphazardly discarded in garbage bags and it appeared as though Leweski had intended to throw them away.
As for the 220g of cannabis hemp found in the freezer, the police explained that this was very low in THC and was likely intended to be used to make cannabis-infused food.
“Overall there was nothing to indicate that he intended to supply this to anyone else and that’s why we have charged him with simple possession,” she said.
Defence lawyer Joseph Calleja Parnis told the court that Leweski had been primarily interested in the culture of propagating cannabis and had been told that the strain he was trying to grow was difficult to get to flower and had a 50/50 chance of not producing anything at all. He therefore had decided to purchase nine plants, roughly double the legally permissible amount, to increase his chances of achieving the four flowering plants that would put him in the legal limit.
However, after none of his plans came to fruition he decided he had no more interest in cultivating the cannabis himself and had fully intended to discard the plants, which is why they were found in garbage bags.
Given that it was the accused’s first time facing trouble with the law, as well as the circumstances from which the case emerged, the court was asked to consider a lenient sentence.
On his own admission, Magistrate Leonard Caruana found Leweski guilty of the charges and sentenced him to one year of probation as well as a €900 fine.