A man has been cleared of drug possession by a court since it was not proven that cocaine sachets found in his car, after a bumper to bumper collision nine years ago, were actually his.

Fabian Magro, 35, was a passenger in a BMW which was involved in a collision  with a Honda Jazz at Ghaxaq on February 10, 2011.

At the time of the accident, the BMW was being driven by another person since the accused was not fit to drive, having allegedly had one drink too many, just hours before the crash.

Upon impact, Magro allegedly got out of the passenger seat, squabbling with the woman who had been driving the Honda, his speech peppered with foul insults. He then drove off, leaving his friend behind.

Police officers who turned up shortly after, came across Josef Zammit, the man who had been driving Magro’s car, who explained how he had spotted Magro in an intoxicated state at a Birzebbuga bar and had offered to drive him home.

But before going there, Zammit had accompanied Magro on an early-morning errand in Valletta. The crash occurred afterwards as they headed back to Birzebbuga.

Magro's abrupt departure had raised police suspicions. The car was found a while later, unattended and unlocked, windows open and key still in the ignition switch.

Inside the vehicle, police came across a jacket and wallet, as well as nine sachets of white powder and some pills.

Magro was later charged with possessing cocaine under circumstances indicating that the drug was not for his own personal use.

During the proceedings, Magro insisted that at the time of the accident, he was so drunk that he recalled nothing of the whole episode, not even that Zammit had taken the wheel.

He did remember buying a couple of drinks at the bar, then sharing some Vodka with someone else. But he insisted that he had nothing to do with the drugs found in his car, saying that someone else must have put them there.

In handing down judgement, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said that she was not fully convinced of Magro's version and strongly doubted the motive for the Valletta errand at 6:30am and what the two men had done in the interim period before the crash, which happened at 10:30am.

Yet, suspicions were not sufficient to reach a safe and satisfactory conviction, the magistrate said, observing that the police had not searched the accused’s home nor checked his mobile phone.

The drugs found inside his car were, on their own, not enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, concluded the court, thus pronouncing an acquittal.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha were defence counsel.