“The witnesses lied about me; they all said they bought drugs from other people and switched to buying from me just before being arrested, while the police never caught me actually dealing in drugs”, said Stanley Chircop on being asked by the prosecution whether he believed that six witnesses had lied about him.

Mr Chircop, 38, took the witness stand yesterday and gave an emotionally charged rendition of his life, including the circumstances that led him to the world of drugs.

He was firm in denying time and again that he ever dealt in cocaine or heroin, saying that he was not a dealer but a victim.

Mr Chircop, from Zebbug and residing in Fgura, is standing trial on charges of conspiring to trade in drugs, trafficking in, and being in possession of cocaine and heroin between February 1997 and June 1998, and November and December 1997 respectively

Prosecutor Dr Aaron Bugeja asked Mr Chricop to try and put the various episodes of his life into chronological order and challenged his version of events, since the six prosecution witnesses, who had all been convicted of drug related charges, said they bought drugs from Mr Chircop.

On taking the witness stand, Mr Chircop said he used to live with his grandmother and started frequenting bars and drinking, at a very young age. On reaching the age of 16, he was employed with a pasta maker, whom he looked up to as a father figure; however his drinking became heavier after his grandmother died. He said he married and had two children, however things took a bad turn and they started separation proceedings.

At the time, he said, while sleeping in a spare bedroom, he befriended a neighbour whom he started dating. He said it was she who introduced him to cocaine. He described how he was once asleep at home and his wife woke him up. He found his girlfriend had come to his house and started arguing with his wife, who packed his things and threw him out.

The girlfriend invited him to her parents’ house and he started living with her. Mr Chircop said the more time he spent with his girlfriend, the heavier he got into drugs, and the nearer separation proceedings were coming to a close. He also took to living with his aunt in Zebbug.

The accused said he and his girlfriend used to hang out at a bar, where he was introduced to Norman Mayo, who, he said, used to sell cocaine to his girlfriend. Once, Mr Chircop said, the girlfriend started smoking cocaine at home and he took some puffs, however, they soon started to do this very often. He confirmed that they used to share the cocaine they bought.

According to the accused, Mr Mayo used to visit them often at her house in order to sell them cocaine.

He recounted how he stopped living with his girlfriend after he passed out after smoking cocaine. He said the woman’s mother started shouting at him saying that she had had enough of him. The couple then broke it off, although he said that she used to phone him up.

Mr Chircop recounted how he then started living with his aunt and became heavily addicted to cocaine. He said he used to visit Mr Mayo at his place of work in Hal Far in order to buy the drug, which he used at his aunt’s.

The accused then turned to his mother who lived in Gzira, for lodging, after he was turned away by his aunt. He said he was not aware that his mother had a Palestinian boyfriend.

At the same time, his separated wife asked him out, and the couple dined out with another couple. On that occasion, he noticed a bar attendant who kept staring at him, and he gave her his phone number. A couple of days later she phoned him up and he moved in with her. Mr Chricop said his former girlfriend phoned him up to make up after she found out about the new relationship. He said her new boyfriend later phoned him up to tell him off.

Mr Chircop said he started dividing his time between his new girlfriend’s place and his mother’s place in Gzira where he found her Palestinian boyfriend injecting himself with heroin on the toilet. After some time, the Palestinian convinced him to take heroin. The accused said the Palestinian had to inject him as he was afraid to do it himself. The accused denied ever giving drugs to the Palestinian.

At the time, he said, he received his share of the matrimonial patrimony, which he said he spent on drugs and a flat in Bugibba.

However, he still hung around his mother’s house, as he was always sure that her boyfriend would give him heroin for free.

During this period, he said, he started frequenting the Detox Centre in order to get prescription drugs in order to overcome his withdrawal symptoms.

Also during this period, Mr Chircop said he was asked by his mother’s Palestinian boyfriend to go to the Msida Church were they met with another man with whom they were supposed to get a ring from Paceville.

After this, said Mr Chircop, they were arrested and charged with trafficking. He was found guilty but the charge was reversed on appeal.

While in prison, he was told that his mother’s boyfriend and the other man had released a statement, as they thought that he had released one against them. He also said his mother never visited him, while she kept visiting her boyfriend.

Four months later, he while signing at a police station, he was told that he would be arraigned in court. He found himself back in jail, together with another two men whom he had briefly met before. He said he had bought cocaine from one of the men, whom he knew was an acquaintance of Mr Mayo’s.

No one used to visit him, while people avoided him both in prison and at the Detox Centre. He was later taken to Mount Carmel Hospital as he developed paranoia after having illusions of people trying to kill him.

Mr Chircop later had to sell his Bugibba flat and live in a slum as he incurred more and more debts in order to finance his habit.

It was at this point that he managed to enter a Sedqa rehabilitation community, where he spent a year. He was later released after his aunt gave him a small place in Zebbug and he started working at a textile factory. He started dating a girl from the factory with whom he had a child.

He said that now that he was clean he was told that he would undergo a trial by jury.

On cross examination, the accused denied using heroin prior to starting the first relationship, following his separation. When confronted with a statement he released on 5 November 1997, in which he admitted using the drug a long time before, he said he had lied in order to be given methadone as soon as possible.

Police Inspector Norbert Ciappara produced the Palestinian’s criminal record. The man testified on Monday that he bought heroin from the accused. His record included five convictions of heroin possession, four of theft, and of trafficking in heroin, causing voluntary damage and perjury.

Inspector Ciappara said the Palestinian gave accurate information when collaborating with the police.

The accused’s first girlfriend following his separation, testified that she used to share cocaine with Mr Chircop and recalled that Mr Mayo used to supply them with the drug.

Her following boyfriend testified that he had bought cocaine from Mr Chircop around ten times, each time buying from four to five grammes at Lm35 per gramme. They used to meet at Bahar ic-Caghaq and he would later sell some of the drug in order to finance his habit.

Another witness said he bought cocaine from the accused, which he resold in order to finance his habit. He insisted he did not recognise the accused, although he had done so during the compilation of evidence two years ago.

Forensic Chemist Mario Mifsud testified he carried out tests on items belonging to the accused, one being electronic scales, which he described as normal kitchen scales which are used both by buyers and sellers of drugs. Mr Mifsud said he did not detect any illegal substances on the objects belonging to Mr Chircop.

The jury will resume today, with the jurors questioning the accused.