Woman recounts finding her son unconscious

The mother of a man who died of a drug overdose last month described the horror of finding her unconscious son lying on the floor of his room.

Abigail Spiteri yesterday said that, on September 24 in the early afternoon, she went to get the clothes off the line and noticed that the door to her son's room was ajar.

When she looked inside she saw her son, David, lying on the floor. She started shouting for help and her husband and her nephew Johan Mifsud, among others, went to help. She was testifying in the compilation of evidence against her nephew, Mr Mifsud, 30 of Cospicua, who pleaded not guilty to involuntarily causing the death of his 32-year-old cousin David Spiteri and trafficking in heroin.

Mrs Spiteri said her nephew, who had been living with them for over a year, was asleep in another room at the time of the incident and she went to wake him up.

She explained how the ambulance arrived and tried to revive her son but, after some time, he was rushed to hospital where she was later told that he had died.

Mrs Spiteri said that she never saw her son or nephew take drugs but she knew her son had problems since sometimes, when he went home, he did not seem to be in his senses and swayed to walk. But when she asked him if he was taking anything he told her that she did not understand and that it was his life.

"David was a good boy who was loved by everyone but sometimes, when he took his pills, he blabbed a lot." She explained that ever since he had served his jail term he had been taking Valium on prescription, but she did not know if he took any other drug behind her back.

Mrs Spiteri described Mr Mifsud as an honest man who always showed respect towards her family.

Mrs Spiteri's youngest son, Giovanni, followed her to the witness stand.

He told Magistrate Mizzi that he last saw his brother, David, on the morning of his death.

Mr Spiteri had invited his brother to join him and a friend to Paceville but his brother said he would go there in the evening.

At about 2,30 p.m. Mr Spiteri decided to go home and phoned a neighbour for a lift. His neighbour told him there had been a panic situation and his brother David had been rushed to hospital.

Mr Spiteri got a lift to hospital where he saw his family members, including his cousin, Mr Mifsud, crying. He then heard a nurse attending his brother say there was a heart beat so he told his mother that his brother would survive.

He then went with his cousin to pick up his mother's mobile phone from home and, when they returned to hospital, his mother informed him that his brother had died.

"My brother was a jolly man, he was good and knew no harm. But he had the brain of a four-year-old... During the 11 years he spent in jail his mind got very tired."

Mr Spiteri explained that he shared a room with his cousin for about one-and-a-half years. Asked if he ever saw drug-related items in his cousin's possession, he said he had recognised a spoon shown to him by police as belonging to his cousin.

He recognised it because it was thick and he had used it in the past to take drugs with his cousin. He added that they had taken it from his mother because, if they took one every time they used drugs, she would have noticed what they were up to.

He added that his cousin had a connection with drugs just like he did but did not know that his brother did.