A 28-year-old man who was due to stand trial for trafficking in cannabis pleaded guilty yesterday, with his lawyers insisting that he was a “changed person” and the shock he suffered the day he was caught had prompted the beginning of his rehabilitation.

According to the bill of indictment, Walter-John Cassar from Xaghra, Gozo, was involved in trafficking more than three-and-a-half kilogrammes of cannabis, valued at almost Lm4,000, on 16 December 2003 and during the preceding weeks.

He is being charged with collecting the drugs from someone in Xaghra and planning to deliver them to another person, from whom he would have received payment. He would have then passed the money on to the first person and would have received a considerable percentage of the total amount.

While transporting the drugs by car, Cassar was stopped by the police and found to be in possession of several boxes and bags containing the drugs.

His father, Chris Cassar, was one of the witnesses who took the witness stand yesterday, saying that his son had matured a great deal following the drug-trafficking incident, which had shocked him as much as it had shocked his relatives.

He said that, as a teenager, his son had been faced with peer pressure and there was a time when he had started drinking and had been through a phase when he was very depressed.

Mr Cassar said that at a certain point, his son had started to run a bar with a partner. He had been very happy and had been doing very well, said Mr Cassar, adding that his partner had then decided he wanted to run the place alone and this had been a big blow to his son.

He said their family had been going through a rough time, but his son had started following a course and was doing very well.

Mr Cassar said the family had intended buying a restaurant, which his son was to run, but the deal had fallen through and this had been another big disappointment for his son.

While calling on the court to punish Cassar according to established legal parameters, one of the defence lawyers, Dr Emmanuel Mallia, said that the accused had started on the road to rehabilitation as soon as he was caught trafficking drugs.

The big probability is that he will not make the same mistake again, and the fact that he was an excellent student showed that he wanted to do something useful with his life, said Dr Mallia.

The prosecution, on the other hand, insisted on the objective seriousness of the case and argued that the maximum punishment should be applied.

After hearing submissions, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono deferred judgement until tomorrow.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Stephen Tonna Lowell is prosecuting.

Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Emmanuel Mallia are appearing for the accused.