For those who follow my articles, you may recall one from two months ago that told the story of a Dutch citizen who has spent the last nine years of his life on bail in Malta, under the charge of conspiracy to traffic drugs.
At the time of writing it, he was awaiting a trial by jury after enduring almost a decade of harassment, surveillance, disruption to his life, and not forgetting, almost two years in prison. I received a lot of feedback from that article, as well as many requests for an update on his progress and the outcome of the legal proceedings against him, so after over a week in court, here is what happened.
I must admit that I entered the courtroom with a sense of foreboding, suspicion, and almost bemusement caused by hearing his side of the story and wondering how on earth it had got this far. But nothing, absolutely nothing could prepare me for the utter travesty that unfolded over the next few days. In my naïve mind, I thought that perhaps the prosecution had some strong, convincing, solid evidence they were going to present– indisputable facts, maybe some recordings or photographs, something that would justify the last decade of disruption for this family. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
I have studied law, I have watched numerous trials in the UK courts, and I keep myself up to date with current legal affairs. I am not a legal expert by any stretch of the imagination but what I witnessed this week was a laughable attempt to make a scapegoat out of someone based on zero proof. I cannot imagine, in my wildest dreams or nightmares, how a case of this type, with the evidence (a debatable choice of word) that the prosecution presented, could get to the stage of a trial by jury. When I think of the hours, days, weeks, months, years, and thousands of euros that have been wasted on this disaster of a legal proceeding, it really makes me wonder if there was another motive for prosecuting Chukwudi Samuel Onyeabor.
I could write a thesis several times over to explain to you the various flaws and mistakes in the prosecution’s case but it would make for extremely frustrating reading, so let me just narrow it down to a few key instances of failure.
A case that dragged on for nine years was brought before a jury. There were missing photographs of the crime scene, no recordings of any phone calls, no fingerprints, no interpreter made available for evidence in Nigerian (because the police inspector said he did not trust Nigerians). No evidence was extracted from the accused’s PC (despite him telling the police there was evidence that would prove his innocence there), no intact chain of evidence regarding seized mobile phones, no actual drugs/drug related paraphernalia/large amounts of cash found, and no actual first hand or direct evidence of any type. To make things even better, the only witness who could implicate the accused in any way was a chap with a dubious past who had cut a deal with the police for a reduced sentence if he would testify against Mr Onyeabor.
The crux of the case, and the aspect of it that disgusted me the most, was the prosecution producing evidence of a call list. This list was supposed to be from a reliable and credible source and apparently proved the fact that the accused had called one of the (already in police custody, and actually guilty) drug traffickers when he arrived in Malta. The only problem with this was that there was a mistake in the telephone number. This mistake centred on the fact that the prefix and country code before the accused’s number was incorrect. It was in an incorrect format, included two country codes instead of one, it had a crucial symbol missing, and it was several digits too long. An innocent mistake you might say, but how did this occur? Who made this report? How did a mistake happen in a piece of evidence of this kind? Those questions and implications aside, it cast huge doubts over the viability of every single bit of data they presented. A simple error? Who knows?
On Thursday night at 23:40, we received a call that the jury had finished their deliberations and we rushed to Valletta and sprinted through the streets to make it in time to hear the verdict – not guilty by a count of 7 to 2. While it is a welcome relief for all involved, in particular that lovely family, it will do nothing to erase the pain, suffering, stress, disruption, and anguish that have been caused to them over the last nine years. To quote the comments of the defence lawyers, the guards, and other staff present in the courtroom over the last nine days – “how was it allowed to get this far?”
There are some serious questions that need to be asked regarding their procedures for collecting evidence and I think it is fair to say that an investigation into the incredible amount of flaws, mistakes, and downright mistruths that were presented during this case should be considered. There are also many questions that need to be answered by the Attorney General such as who in their right mind signed off on this and why was this man hauled before a jury and humiliated based on hearsay and zero evidence? To quote the defence lawyer at one stage during the proceedings “it makes me shiver” to think of what possible motives were at work behind the scenes, as in my mind, and the mind of many others, this case should not have even seen the light of day.
To Mr Onyeabor and his family, I wish you all the best and I hope that this ordeal has not soured your opinion of the people that are supposed to be there to protect and defend you.