A man caught with drugs during a police road block almost seven years ago was spared an effective jail term by a drugs court which confirmed that he had since steered clear of drugs and was now reformed. 

Police carrying out road checks on Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street, St Julian’s on August 15, 2016, had flagged down a grey BMW vehicle driven by Jeremy Mangion, a then 20-year-old youth with an untainted criminal record. 

The roadblock was conducted by traffic policemen and RIU officers who suspected that the driver was smoking a joint.

His “confused and suspicious” behaviour led to a search of the vehicle which yielded some drug-related paraphernalia, including a crusher and sachets of cannabis grass, as well as a grinder, a plastic pipe, €375 in cash, two mobile phones and a sachet of white powder suspected of being cocaine. 

That discovery led to further searches at the suspect’s home where police came across more cannabis grass as well as cannabis resin, a number of sealable bags, a wallet containing €470 in cash, more cash under the wallet amounting to €875, a sizeable knife, a pouch with a further €65, two weighing scales and some 1.097 grams of cocaine. 

The items were discovered in different parts of the residence including the accused’s bedroom and garage. 

The amount of cannabis resin totaled 88.87 grams 21% purity, whereas cannabis grass amounted to 28.85 grams at 22% purity. 

The youth was subsequently charged with cannabis trafficking, possession of the cannabis grass and resin in circumstances denoting that they were not solely for personal use as well as unlawful possession of cocaine. 

The Magistrates’ Court was requested to assume the functions of a Drugs Court and the case was then referred to the Drug Offenders Rehabilitation Board which reported back to court that the accused had since successfully completed rehabilitation. 

When delivering judgment, the court, presided over by Magistrate Elaine Mercieca, upheld the defence’s request to discard the statement released by the accused in 2016. 

At the time, Maltese law only granted a suspect the right to consult a lawyer for a maximum one hour prior to releasing his statement to police. 

Although the right to legal assistance had not yet been extended throughout the interrogation, basing itself on established case law, the court declared that Mangion’s statement was to be discarded.

That statement, during which the suspect had incriminated himself on various charges, was a determining piece of evidence upon which the prosecution had based its case. The defence also sought to shed doubt on the chain of evidence concerning items seized from the accused’s car as well as chats exhibited from his mobile phone which appeared to indicate his involvement in drug trafficking.

A particular message on his phone was indicative of trafficking. 

A third party asked for “zewg lobiet” and the accused replied, “I’m coming”.

However, since the chats did not clearly indicate what substance they were referring to nor the date of the correspondence, the trafficking charges were not sufficiently proven.

The other charges, related to aggravated possession of cannabis and simple possession of cocaine, were proven. 

When meting out punishment, the court took note of the nature of the offences but also the lapse of time, the accused’s clean conduct sheet and also the fact that he had since marked significant progress. 

He had started on cannabis at a tender age but had recently tested negative to drugs, was completely reformed and had no other pending criminal cases. 

The court thus condemned him to a 20-month jail term suspended for three years and a penalty of €80. 

Inspector Justine Grech prosecuted.  Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.