A man targeted by a police search after quarrelling with his girlfriend at a party was cleared of drug possession since the prosecution failed to prove a sufficient link between the accused and nine ecstasy pills found in his car.
Enrico Camilleri, 55, from Luqa had been prosecuted after the drugs were found in his car ashtray following an anonymous tip-off to the police.
The man, who had just quarrelled with his girlfriend during a party at Ta’ Qali, could not explain how the nine pills had ended up in his car, saying that earlier on that evening he had accompanied his girlfriend, giving two male friends a lift on the way.
One of the men had sat next to the driver to smoke. His girlfriend and the other man had sat on the backseat, the court was told.
Shortly after getting to the party, the couple had argued.
Just minutes later, a number of plainclothes officers had conducted a personal search of the accused, which proved negative. A further search of his vehicle led to the discovery of a small bag, containing the ecstasy pills, tucked away in the ashtray compartment.
The man’s lawyers argued that the prosecution had failed to prove that the drugs belonged to the accused, pointing out that the man only occasionally used cocaine and that his girlfriend was a drug addict.
The court, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, observed that the police had acted upon an anonymous tip-off that reached them shortly after the couple’s tiff.
The timing was rather suspicious, the court said, pointing out further that no drugs or suspicious sums of money had been found in the man’s possession. Nor had police confiscated his mobile phone.
When all was considered, including the fact that the accused had not been alone in his car prior to the drug find, the court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove a clear and convincing link between the accused and the drug.
The prosecution had not even proved that the accused knew of the presence of the drugs in his car, the court said, thus pronouncing an acquittal and ordering the destruction of the pills.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Veronique Dalli were defence counsel.