A man convicted of trafficking ecstasy at a party venue more than 12 years ago has avoided an effective prison term after the Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board was satisfied with his progress and closed his case.
Jurgen Stanyer appealed a six-month jail term for trafficking ecstasy back in 2011. This week, Mr Justice Neville Camilleri suspended the jail term for one year after hearing the man’s probation officer explain how he had made drastic improvement since then.
The court heard how Stanyer, who was 19 years old at the time, was one of a number of people arrested during a party at an establishment in Ta' Qali on May 1, 2011.
Two police officers testified that while they were near the toilets of the entertainment venue, they noticed another young man and Stanyer exchanging cash. One officer testified that he noticed that cash changed hands after they handed something to each other.
The other man was caught with a small bag of white powder suspected to be cocaine and two white pills suspected to be ecstasy. Stanyer was only caught with cash.
He was eventually charged with cocaine and ecstasy trafficking but had only been found guilty of trafficking two ecstasy pills.
The defence argued that if anything this was a case of trafficking by sharing since the two agreed to consume the ecstasy together.
However, the court rubbished this theory. Although Stanyer said he had agreed with the other man to consume drugs together, it turned out as a fact that the two were not going to take the drug together.
Defence lawyers Michael Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri asked the court to convert itself into a drugs court.
The request was upheld and the case referred to the Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board which expressed satisfaction with Stayner’s improvement in his efforts to kick the drug habit. In fact, it was closing the case.
Given this development, Mr Justice Camilleri said he was upholding a recommendation by his probation officer to convert the effective jail term into a suspended one so that Stayner could continue to address his problems. However, he retained the €650 fine and ordered that the crime is not listed in the conduct certificate.