A St Paul’s Bay man was yesterday let off with a four-month jail term for cocaine, cannabis and LSD trafficking due to a three-year delay of court proceedings.

Michael Sciberras, 23 from St Paul’s Bay, was accused of cocaine, cannabis and LSD trafficking on and before 6 July 1998. He was also accused of being in possession of those drugs.

Superintendent Neil Harrison testified during proceedings. He said that the accused was driving a Lada through St Paul’s Bay and had a Skytel pager in his possession. He was stopped at a roadblock and an empty sachet, normally associated with drug packing, was found in his car. As a result, the police decided to search his house.

While at his house, a message asking the accused to meet came in on the pager. However, it was Supt Harrison who went to meet the person who had sent the message.

This man told Supt Harrison that the accused had suggested he sell cocaine, cannabis and LSD on his behalf. He also said that, eventually, the accused gave him two LSD microdots which he passed on to someone else.

Meanwhile, the accused informed the court that he had enrolled in a drug rehabilitation programme. It turned out that he had been taking drugs since secondary school. However, he is now trying to put together a small business and is planning to get married.

The court, presided over by magistrate Lawrence Quintano, said the accused had embarked on a remarkable journey of recovery and had worked hard to turn his life around. He also said that the accused was in no way whatsoever responsible for the length of the proceedings.

The court noted that due to another case that was tied to this one, no evidence was heard between 11 January 2001 and 5 October 2004.

The court took this into account and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment and fined him Lm100.

Police superintendent Neil Harrison prosecuted.