Guilty of pushing cocaine

A 29-year-old Mqabba man was yesterday found guilty of trafficking in cocaine by six votes to three.

After three hours of deliberation, jurors returned a 6-3 verdict finding Antonio Barbara guilty of trafficking in cocaine and of the possession of the drug in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use on and before August 2000.

They unanimously cleared Mr Barbara of the possession of heroin with the intent to sell but found him guilty of its simple possession and relapsing.

During submissions on sentencing, lawyer Jason Azzopardi, who is assisting Mr Barbara with defence counsel José Herrera, called on the court to note that the 6-3 verdict was the minimum verdict allowed by law.

He said the verdict showed a "divided jury" because a third of the jurors did not believe Lawrence Micallef, the prosecution's main witness, who said he had bought cocaine from Mr Barbara in 1997.

Dr Azzopardi also called on Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, presiding over the trial, to note that, at the time of the commission of the drug deal, Mr Barbara was about 20 years old and that he was a victim of drugs.

The lawyer asked the court to hand down a sentence that would send a message of proportionality as Mr Micallef had been jailed for 10 months for drug trafficking by the Magistrates' Courts.

Dr Azzopardi pointed out to the court that Mr Barbara was engaged to a woman and lived with his elderly parents and his brother with a disability.

The defence informed the court that Mr Barbara regularly attended the detox centre to this day. After having verified, lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell, prosecuting, did not contest this fact.

Mr Justice Galea Debono is expected to hand down judgement at noon today.