A Criminal Court yesterday ruled that a bill of indictment against two men charged with conspiracy to import and traffic cannabis and with its possession is null and void since there are documents missing in the case file.

Aaron Rodney Pavia and Claudio Porsenna are accused of conspiracy to import and traffic cannabis in Malta. They are also accused of cannabis possession which was found in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use.

The Criminal Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, upheld two submissions of the defence. The defence lawyers argued that documents related to the examination of the accused and to the decision handed down by the magistrate presiding over the compilation of evidence against them when he ruled that there was enough prima facie evidence for a bill of indictment to be issued against them were missing.

According to law, if one of these documents is missing from the case file, the bill of indictment is null and void.

Handing down his judgement, Mr Justice Galea Debono explained that the case file was one of those destroyed in the fire which engulfed magistrate Antonio Mizzi’s courtroom. Magistrate Mizzi had ordered that the case file be reconstructed so that the compilation of evidence against the two men can continue.

However, the documents were left out and this made the case file inadmissible. Mr Justice Galea Debono therefore sent the file back to the Magistrates’ Court for the documents to be included in the case file before another bill of indictment is issued against the two men.

Assistant Attorney General Mark Said appeared for the prosecution while Dr Jason Azzopardi, Dr Kris Busietta and Dr Franco Debono appeared for the accused.