A drug addict today was jailed for 18 months and fined €2,500 after a court found him guilty of being in possession of an amount of heroin enough to denote it was not for his personal use.
Jonathan Bonello, 34, from Attard, was caught with the drugs in December 2011, on Boxing Day.
A court heard how the accused underwent a drug rehab programme and is expected to 'graduate' at the end of this year. In 2011 he was caught by police with 66 grams of heroin, just about enough to prepare 660 sachets to be sold. Police officers who were observing him spotted Bonello approach a certain Mario John Debono. Police searched Debono and found him to be in possession of one sachet of heroin outside the Detox Centre.
But in court, Debono said that Bonello never sold him any drugs. Bonello's house had been searched after police stopped him outside an Attard pharmacy where 66.49 grams of heroin in three sachets were found. Police also found several plastic sachets, pieces of foil, three weighing scales and €1,710.
The mother of the accused told the court that her son had been an addict for the past seven years while the accused had admitted to police that he had a serious drug related problem.
Experts told a court that the amount of drugs found was a substantial amount and one could easily produce 660 sachets, an amount which is not normally associated with drugs for one's exclusive use.
Through a pre sentencing report, Mr Bonello's probation officer said that Mr Bonello had managed to kick the habit and was submitting regular urine samples.
However, Magistrate Galea Sciberras said that despite the efforts of the accused to kick the habit and the good news shared by the probation officer, the court could not ignore the fact that the accused had that amount of heroin in his possession.
Police Inspector Herman Mula prosecuted.